Tuesday, August 14, 2007

US Roster for Sweden Friendly named.

Goalkeepers: Marcus Hahnemann (Reading, England), Tim Howard (Everton)

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham, England), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, Germany), Jay DeMerit (Watford, England), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege, Belgium), Jonathan Spector (West Ham, England)

Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Michael Bradley (Heerenveen, Netherlands), Bobby Convey (Reading, England), Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England), Benny Feilhaber (Derby, England), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado)

Forwards: Landon Donovan (Los Angeles), Charlie Davies (Hammarby, Sweden), Kamani Hill (Wolfsburg, Germany), Josh Wolff (1860 Munich, Germany), Sal Zizzo (Hannover, Germany)

My thoughts are in comments

5 comments:

Kartik said...

This European heavy squad is interesting for its balance of regulars for 2007, returning players (like Josh Wolff and Marcus Hannehman) and youngsters (like Sal Zizzo, Kamani Hill, and Charlie Davies.)

Landon Donovan may want to decline the invitation to play since the Galaxy who apparently are his first priority are globetrotting all over the place in recent weeks. I'm happy to see Wolff recalled. IMHO he's miles better than Twellman or Eddie Johnson. Demerit, Bocanegra and Gooch continue to be the mainstays in cental defense. I'm somewhat surprised Frank Simek didn't get a call up, but perhaps Sheffield Wednesday already in trouble this season asked Bradley not to pick him. Mastroeni, Bornstein and Donovan are the only MLD players in the team, and Heath Pearce for all his cockyness and big talk seems to have played himself off the national team for now with his poor Copa America performance as well as his shocking first match with Hansa Rostock.

Kartik said...

This European heavy squad is interesting for its balance of regulars for 2007, returning players (like Josh Wolff and Marcus Hannehman) and youngsters (like Sal Zizzo, Kamani Hill, and Charlie Davies.)

Landon Donovan may want to decline the invitation to play since the Galaxy who apparently are his first priority are globetrotting all over the place in recent weeks. I'm happy to see Wolff recalled. IMHO he's miles better than Twellman or Eddie Johnson. Demerit, Bocanegra and Gooch continue to be the mainstays in cental defense. I'm somewhat surprised Frank Simek didn't get a call up, but perhaps Sheffield Wednesday already in trouble this season asked Bradley not to pick him. Mastroeni, Bornstein and Donovan are the only MLD players in the team, and Heath Pearce for all his cockyness and big talk seems to have played himself off the national team for now with his poor Copa America performance as well as his shocking first match with Hansa Rostock.

Kartik said...

Tactically I'd like to see a 4-5-1 with Beasley and Dempsey playing as flankers who have the freedom to join the attack. Josh Wolff should start up top with Donovan, if he plays in central midfield. Beasley and Dempsey will have the ability to push up to join the attack or to slide back when Feilhaber or Bornstein go forward. Unlike his predecessor Bruce Arena, Bob Bradley has a strong discipline with his teams when it comes to spacing and covering for overlapping runs. In the 2nd half I would expect to see Michael Bradley enter the match allowing Benny Feilhaber the opportunity to become more attack oriented. Jay DeMerit's entrance to the match would also give Jonathan Spector and Jonathan Bornstein the freedom to push forward because my view is that DeMerit is twice the central defender on this level of either Oguchi Onyewu or Carlos Bocanegra. If the US can stay in the match, look for Bradley to insert Davies late for energy and pace up front.

Anonymous said...

Very nice line-up. Looking forward to seeing who will start in the nets. Hannehman has earned a start in a major international, friendly or not.

I love to see my Chicago guys like Jay Demerit on the squad. What he lacks in size he makes up in effort.

I am afraid we have seen all that Carlos Bocanerga can do, while he is missed used in the EPL in my opinion he will not be the breakthrough player we all hoped for.

Bradley uses Beasely very well. I question who will be the 1 in a 4-5-1 if Altidore is not on the team. Looking for the 1, as they say.

Anonymous said...

I think DeMerit has proved he is much better than Gooch or Boca, but US Soccer always has a bias towards players who have come up through the U-17s and U-20s. That's why those two guys have somewhat lifetime jobs, and a guy like DeMerit and to a lesser extent Kenny Cooper, and Frank Simek are having a tougher time breaking in. All three of these guys develop with English clubs or in English academies and never played for the US at the youth level.