Thursday, January 18, 2007

US-Denmark Preview

The Home Depot Center will on Saturday host the US National Team's first outing since the World Cup last summer and the first match under the direction of new head man Bob Bradley. Since this game is not being held on a FIFA sanctioned international friendly date players from many of the major leagues in Europe are unavailable to both nations, but the Danish Super League is on holiday so Denmark was able to pick a squad made up entirely of players in its domestic league. US defender Heath Pearce plays in Denmark and is the only non MLS based player on Bradley's roster.

Keep and eye open for:

Kenny Cooper and Chris Rolfe are two budding MLS attacking stars, and Cooper seems to have learned alot about the game in his failed spell at Manchester United. Ricardo Clark and Eddie Robinson were the lynchpins of Houston's MLS Cup run and both will get a shot to impress Bradley in this match. Pat Noonan is running out of shots with the National Team and he needs to be impressive in training as well as in the match. Heath Pearce is a budding star who bypassed MLS for the Danish Super League. He is well respected by the Danish players and will have a point to prove to Bob Bradley after he was passed over by Bruce Arena for a serious look before the World Cup.

Prediction:

1-1 draw. Neither team has selected an "A" team and Denmark is focused on qualifying for Euro 2008 after suprisingly falling short of qualification for Germany 2006. Morten Olsen, the Denmark Coach has been under pressure at home to produce results and this match is probably more fine tuning for players on league break rather than a serious friendly match.




Denmark National Team Roster
Goalkeepers): Casper Ankergren (Brondby), Jesper Christiansen (FC Copenhagen)

Defenders: Anders Moller Christensen (OB), Michael Gravgaard (FC Copenhagen), Lars Jacobsen (FC Copenhagen), Kristian Bak Nielsen (FC Midtjylland), Michael Ribers (FC Nordsjaelland), Chris Sorensen (OB)

Midfielders): Jonas Borring (OB), William Kvist Jorgensen (FC Copenhagen), Christian Keller (Stabaek), Thomas Kristensen (FC Nordsjaelland), Hjalte Bo Norregaard (FC Copenhagen), Peter Nymann (OB), Christopher Poulsen (Viborg), Rasmus Wurtz (AAB), Niki Zimling (Esbjerg FB)

Forwards: Jesper Bech (Esbjerg FB), Morten Nordstrand Nielsen (FC Nordsjaelland), Simon Busk Poulsen (FC Midtjylland), Dennis Sorensen (FC Midtjylland)

US National Team Roster:

Goalkeepers:: Joe Cannon (Los Angeles Galaxy), Troy Perkins (D.C. United), Matt Pickens (Chicago Fire), Matt Reis (New England Revolution)

Defenders: Chris Albright (Los Angeles Galaxy), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA) Bobby Boswell (D.C. United), Dan Califf (Aalborg BK), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Todd Dunivant (New York Red Bulls), Bryan Namoff (D.C. United), Michael Parkhurst (New England Revolution), Heath Pearce (FC Nordsjællands), Dasan Robinson (Chicago Fire), Eddie Robinson (Houston Dynamo)

Midfielders: Kyle Beckerman (Colorado Rapids), Brian Carroll (D.C. United), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Joshua Gros (D.C. United), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Justin Mapp (Chicago Fire), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids), Brian Mullan (Houston Dynamo), Pat Noonan (New England Revolution)

Forwards: Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Alecko Eskandarian (D.C. United), Nate Jaqua (Los Angeles Galaxy), Eddie Johnson (Kansas City Wizards), Chris Rolfe (Chicago Fire)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is the type of squad we should be fielding. Mostly MLS players who understand each other and know the style we are trying to play.

Anonymous said...

????

This is the team we ARE fielding.

What style are we trying to play?

Anonymous said...

Sams Army is....Pete Vagenas who said about Beckham's salary:

"On the one hand you would say more power to him but on the other hand you think why can't I be earning that?"