Compelling Soccer

With an international break a week away and the US with two Friendlies upcoming, one would expect Bob Bradley will announce the group heading over to Europe this weekend. Speculation is that it will occur after this round of the MLS playoffs concludes this weekend, which sounds about right. That gives me time to throw up a list of players I'd take if I were running the US team.

There is a chance a couple of these guys are eliminated from conversation because their teams advance. Already I had to pull Robbie Findley out with Real Salt Lake's win over Columbus. On the other hand that frees up a pair of Columbus players for duty. If a player here is named that could advance, I mentioned his replacement afterwards. In both cases, I picked a player on the other side who might be worth to get a look at.

So, here's the US 23:

Goalies: Brad Guzan, Troy Perkins, Marcus Hahnemann

We know Timmeh is the goalie. But who should be number two? Why don't we get a chance to see? Brad Guzan is in the unenviable position of potentially being the third best American goalie in the world. Unfortunately, 1A and 1B are Tim Howard who blocks Guzan on the International level and Brad Friedel who blocks him on the club level. The backup spot behind Guzan is almost irrelevant since the odds a long these guys will play, but we'll give it to Troy Perkins and Marcus Hahnemann because they're the default 3-4. (Sort of; if an injury happened to Howard and Guzan, then I suspect Friedel would get the nod over them)

Defenders: Edgar Castillo, Frank Simek, Clarence Goodson, Michael Orozco, Chad Marshall, Steve Cherundolo, Jonathan Spector, Carlos Bocanegra, Jimmy Conrad

Edgar Castillo has been called in so why not get a look at him right away? He can even potentially play left midfield if Landon Donovan is unable to go thanks to playoff commitments, though I dislike that because you want to find out if he's the answer at LB. Interestingly, since either Jonathan Bornstein or Donovan is going to be out, I actually recommend Bornstein being Donovan's replacement. Since the Costa Rica game I've been curious if Bornstein would be better in the midfield than fullback and this would be a good opportunity to find out.

Frank Simek has been playing sporadically at Sheffield Wednesday. Considering the US team needs to start experimenting with different backline looks in case Oguchi Oneywu is out longer than expected, Simek might as well get a look.

Columbus was ousted from the MLS playoffs, meaning Chad Marshall will be available. He's almost certain to get the call up. US fans have been calling for Mexican based defender Michael Orozco to get picked as well. With the amount of injuries on the US backline, now would be a good time to do it.

Midfielders: Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Stuart Holden, Jose Francisco Torres, Benny Feilhaber, Michael Bradley, Robbie Rogers

Replacements: Jonathan Bornstein, Brad Evans

Really, all of these guys except Rogers are no brainers at this point. Basically, this list reflects the current midfield set up; there's just not much flux there right now. That might change if Donovan or Clint Dempsey move up top, but as of this moment, three of the spots are set. Furthermore, when you factor in Maurice Edu and Jermaine Jones, you have two more options should you have to move one of the guys up. As mentioned earlier, Bornstein gets the call if Donovan goes out. Along those lines if Stuart Holden's Dynamo advance to the next round of the MLS playoffs, then it will be at the expense of the Seattle Sounders. In that case, Brad Evans would be my choice for a call up. He's a guy who probably doesn't have much of a spot on this team in the future, but it's worth seeing if he can be a reserve type player.

Robbie Rogers played well enough in his call up to warrant another. Unlike the other Bradley Gold Cup/MLS guys who have gotten a call in (see Beckerman, Kyle) he didn't look poor when he was awarded time in Costa Rica. I'm still skeptical, but there's far more hope here than there was three weeks ago.

Strikers: Kenny Cooper, Conor Casey, Brian Ching, Chris Pontius

What? No Jozy? Hear me out. Altidore's career is better served being with club rather than country at this point. As nice that he'd get work in against a couple of solid European international sides, but let's face it, the best work Jozy is going to get is if he's playing regularly with Hull. The best way to do that is to leave him in training with Hull City. The situation in Hull is precarious for everyone involved; there's opportunity and risk involved there. If Jozy stays, he might be able to do well enough in training to get a start. Leave and his place on the side could be hurt and playing time may decrease. So for that reason, no Altidore.

I want to give Conor Casey another look because while I suspect Honduras was more of a fluky performance, he deserves to have another chance to prove otherwise. Kenny Cooper is there because he needs to be given a starting opportunity at this point. He's got as many reasons to be started/benched as anyone else outside of Altidore at this point, so let's find out. Brian Ching is there for two reasons:

A. Someone has to fill out the roster.

B. I want to see him against higher level competition. He gets by on his work ethic and supposed gritty efforts against the weaker sisters of CONCACAF, but his critics have long claimed he can't do it against a real International level side. Put up or shut up for both sides. If Ching plays well in those games, I'd be willing to spot him the chance to go to SA. If not, then forget it, especially as he'll have another nine months on his body by then.

Some people may call for Jeff Cunningham based on his splendid MLS campaign. I'm not. I simply am not a believer that a 33 year old who hadn't been on anyone's radar is suddenly international quality on the basis of a good MLS season. He's an age when most players retire from international duty, not get it for the first time. Playing the odds, Cunningham just isn't international quality.

The fourth spot goes to Chris Pontius. I have no idea if he's international quality, but he's young (22) starting on an MLS side and was highly regarded enough to be a top ten pick in the MLS draft last year. In friendlies I'm always a much bigger fan of seeing young players with upside than old guys who haven't shown much in the past.

Along the same lines as Altidore, I don't call in either Eddie Johnson and Freddie Adu. Both bring something to the table, but neither is in a position to get one. They need to stay at their clubs and work on getting minutes, rather than getting a little time with the US national side. If they get it going in Europe, their call in will come.

Which brings us to this starting 11 against Slovakia:

------------Cooper-----Casey------------------

--Donovan/Bornstein---------------Dempsey----

------------Bradley----Torres------------------

---Castillo----Marshall--Bocanegra----Spector----

-------------------Guzan------------------------