USA Names Olympic Qualifying Roster
USA Olympic coach Peter Nowak has announced his roster for the upcoming 2008 Summer Olympic qualifying games and beyond. The roster is as follows:
Goalkeepers: Dominic Cervi (Chicago Fire), Tally Hall (Esbjerg fB/Denmark), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)
Defenders: Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Hunter Freeman (New York Red Bulls), Kamani Hil (VfL Wolfsburg/Germany), Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Michael Orozco (San Luis/Mexico), Mike Randolph (L.A. Galaxy), Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC)
Midfielders: Arturo Alvarez (FC Dallas), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County/England), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Dax McCarty (FC Dallas), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), Sal Zizzo (Hannover 96/Germany)
Forwards: Freddy Adu (Benfica/Portugal), Jozy Altidore (New York Red Bulls), Chad Barrett (Chicago Fire), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF/Sweden), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake)
Solid roster, I’d say. If you’re wondering Michael Bradley is, he will be joining the team at some point during the camp. No worries there. Now I know this is probably American pride showing here, but if this is the lineup the US can send out come time to go to Beijing, there isn’t any real reason we can’t go and shock the world. The majority of this team remembers the bitter disappointment that came with the u-20 World Cup, so hopefully that can channel that frustration into a medal winning campaign this coming summer. Thoughts?
Credit to SI.com for the roster.
UEFA Cup and Pan-Pacific Championship
It is all quiet on the American front recently. Some of our players abroad are currently playing in the UEFA Cup, including first choice keeper Tim Howard. The side thrashed SK Brann 6-1. Nigerian striker Yakubu lead the Everton attack with his second hat-trick at the club. He was fined and dropped by his manager for returning late from the African Nations Cup, but I’m sure all has been forgiven now. Elsewhere in the Cup, Freddy Adu was an unused substitute for Benfica in a 2-2 draw against Nurnberg.
We did have two MLS teams in action in the Pan-Pacific Championship. The LA Galaxy, lead by David Beckham, were dreadful. They were beaten 1-0 by Gamba Osaka. The team was completely dominated and lacked creativity coming forward. Though it is true that both Donovan and Ruiz were out injured, it was still an embarrassing performance. Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit blames the poor performance on the artificial turf and the fact that there were many new faces on the team that hadn’t gotten used top playing together yet.
There was a team there that didn’t make the MLS look terrible, and that was the Houston Dynamo. The attack was lead by Hawaii native Brian Ching. The Dynamo beat Sydney FC 3-0. Hopefully Brian Ching can continue to play well into the season. His ability to hold up the ball and play with his back to the net is vital for Houston, and could become a vital part of the US National Team’s play. I know all the excitement is about Altidore and Adu, but let’s not forget that we have a decent striker in Brian Ching. I say we slot him in and completely forget about Taylor Twellman. Forever.
USA To Play England May 28, 2008
I called it. The US will play England at Wembley in London on May 28th, 2008. So far this year, I have to give Sunil Gulati and the USSF for scheduling great friendlies. The US is also in talks to play a top 5 world team in June. Right now, the top 5 are Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Spain, and Germany. Now we’re already playing Spain in June, so scratch them. We played Brazil back in September, so scratch them too. That leaves Argentina, Germany, and Italy. With Germany and Italy getting ready for Euro 2008, my guess is that the US will face # 1 Argentina this June as well. But we can talk about that later.
England represents an amazing opportunity to send shock waves throughout Europe. The fact is, England has fallen off its perch as one of the top teams in the world. Even though England fans have yet to realize this, facts are facts, and the US is good to jump at the opportunity to play England. Why? Credibility. A win against England will do wonders for the US Soccer program. It doesn’t really matter that England is down at the moment, to go into Wembley and win is a fantastic achievement, no matter what England squad is out there.
With a game against Spain coming soon afterwards, coming away 2-0 against England and Spain in Europe would be the start of what could potentially be one of the greatest summers in US Soccer history. With the Olympics, World Cup qualifying, and great friendlies to play, in what was seen as a down year in terms of action for the US has now become a very important year for the players and Coach Bob Bradley. If the US folds in the Olympics, friendlies, and qualifying, it could be the end of Bob Bradley as coach. The fact is, the US cannot afford to blow any of these chances this summer. I think we’ll be ok, but don’t be shocked if Bob Bradley is out as USA coach if the US plays badly this summer.
Anyways, we’re playing England. Hopefully we can go to Wembley and beat England, and finally shut up the English who say the US is no good.
USA 2-2 Mexico
Mexico continued it’s tradition of not beating the United States on home soil Wednesday night. The United States started off with a disadvantage since a lot of their players were out of season, while the Mexican league is active. So some rust was expected. The game was as heated as it usually is when these two teams play. Tim Howard got into a pretty significant scrap and was lucky not to be carded. He performed well once again, and can’t be blamed for either of the goals. There were some communication issues between him and the defense, but that was due to crowd noise. Bocanegra and Onyewu performed well enough, but there were some problems at the fullback position. Both were terrible, especially Ramiro Corrales.
The midfield was not as good as we are accustomed to, either. The partnership of Ricardo Clarke and Michael Bradley didn’t seem to work too well. They haven’t played much together, though, so it’s not too worrying. With Feilhaber not getting much playing time, it looks like he will be sharing more of his playing time with Edu and Clarke. Michael Bradley has been in brilliant form for Herenveen and I think he’s assured himself a starting spot in the midfield for the future.
As for the strikers, they played decently for the service they were getting. Altidore looked comfortable. It was good to see him score in his first start. That should only help his confidence. Dempsey played decently, but I still think he plays better in the midfield. He did score a great goal, but it was ruled out. He was offsides when he received the ball 15 minutes before he scored the goal. The call was a bit odd for me.
It was a bit of a disappointing performance for me, but with many of the players not playing regularly it was expected.
As per request, here are some highlights of the game. Thanks to 101greatgoals.com for providing the link. Longer highlights from US Soccer can be seen here.
USA Roster For Upcoming Friendly Vs. Mexico
The official roster for the USA vs Mexico friendly next Wednesday has been released. Here is the lineup as follows:
GOALKEEPERS : Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Tim Howard (Everton FC)
DEFENDERS : Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham FC), Ramiro Corrales (SK Brann), Drew Moor (FC Dallas), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Michael Parkhurst (New England Revolution), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock), Eddie Robinson (Houston Dynamo)
MIDFIELDERS : Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Bobby Convey (Reading FC), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Eddie Lewis (Derby County)
FORWARDS : Jozy Altidore (New York Red Bulls), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Pat Noonan (Aalesund FK)
What a roster. I absolutely love it. The younger players are moving in(Adu, Edu, Bradley, Altidore) along with the veterans(Donovan, Howard, Dempsey, Convey) to form what will hopefully become the nucleus of a successful 2010 World Cup squad. No Taylor Twellman, no Eddie Johnson, no complaints from me. Bob Bradley got this one right.