Nov 9, 2009
Er... 22. Can't say I was too surprised by any of the choices. That isn't to say I agree with all of them. However we'll get to that in a second. First the list as per Soccernet:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton), Troy Perkins (Valerenga).
DEFENDERS (9): Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Heath Pearce (FC Dallas), Jonathan Spector (West Ham).
MIDFIELDERS (6): Michael Bradley (Borussia M'gladbach), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Dax McCarty (FC Dallas), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew).
FORWARDS (4): Jozy Altidore (Hull City), Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids), Jeff Cunningham (FC Dallas), Eddie Johnson (Fulham)
With the goalies, Bradley did as I said I would. No Howard. We'll see Guzan and the others.
The defenders lack Edgar Castillo but reports lately had been that he wouldn't be allowed to leave because his squad is player Saturday. The same situation happened with Jose Francisco Torres. We'll see if they get added to the squad for the Denmark game. There aren't many surprises here though I'm disappointed to see Hejduk. I'm in favor of using this as an opportunity to see who is international quality in preparation for South Africa. Hedjuk just isn't going to be one of those guys. If the World Cup were held next month maybe. But we've got 3/4 of a year left. I don't like giving looks to declining players for something that far in advance. Seems pointless; his skills may have degraded even more by then. Other than that, the defense is as expected. Heath Pearce is extremely eh, but if he was on the Gold Cup roster when he didn't have a team, I have no problem with him getting a look now.
The midfield is lacking in players called in, which also did not surprise me. In the end no complaints here right now. Torres is out for now because of his Mexican league commitments plus Landon Donovan and Stuart Holden are out because of the MLS playoffs. What I do find mildly interesting is that Sacha Kljestan and Dax McCarty make two "non" regular call ups (I'm not counting Rogers since he's now been called up twice in a row and played well against Costa Rica). That makes sense for Donovan and Holden but what about Ricardo Clark? It's possible Hedjuk got his spot, but when you factor in Torres and Castillo, I'm not sure Clark isn't on the verge of being out of the squad, especially when you think about Maurice Edu and Jermaine Jones entering the fray once they've recovered. But we'll see.
Some people were shocked by Kljestan and McCarty. I wasn't by Kljestan; we knew he was going to see action again eventually. A guy's got to be rewarded for his FIFA cover appearance some how. McCarty has been in the US system for a while and done fairly well. I'm always intrigued by young players and he's 22, which qualifies as young these days.
The forwards features one surprise; Eddie Johnson. For reasons I stated last week, I'm not pleased to see Johnson. I think he'd benefit more from spending time with Fulham training rather than being with the National Squad. But perhaps a good performance could inspire Roy Hodgson to give him some PT. (Though along those lines, why not call up Freddy Adu, right? Not saying I would, but the logic for Johnson could easily be applied for the more talented player)
Altidore I'd have also preferred being left with Hull City. He finally cracked the starting lineup and considering Jan Venagoor of Hesselink scored the game winner Sunday upon replacing Jozy, he'll need a solid round of practice to maintain that starting spot.
Cunningham also is of little surprise though I am against it. I'd have much rather seen Kenny Cooper get a start/meaningful minutes. He's already in Europe so it's not like he'd have had to go far. His squad isn't playing again until the 20th, so go figure. Cooper, who is young, playing decently and has upside, or Cunningham, a guy who has been nothing until the second half of this season and is 33 years old? I'm not sure why the 33 year old gets a chance outside of the idea that everyone who players well at MLS gets a shot. But, age is a factor. Youth should be served. Cooper would have been a far better choice in my opinion.
Then again, considering in the past I've ripped up to a quarter of Bradley's selections, just picking on three here (and really it's just Hedjuk and Cunningham) seems like it's a step in the right direction.
