Reaction to U.S.A.-Czech Republic and Prediction for 23 Man Roster

It might seem like this is a little hasty considering the game literally ended less than 10 minutes ago. However, I know that the longer I wait, the more I’ll read and hear other takes on the game, and my opinions will start to ebb a little and melt into what I’m hearing. Not that I’m right and everyone else is wrong, but I wanted to go ahead and put down my imeediate reaction to the game tonight. Also, Bob Bradley is making his decisions tonight and announcing the 23 man roster tomorrow, so why can’t I? If Robo-Bob can formulate opinions quickly, anybody can.

Bradley right after the U.S. scored...or maybe it was right after the Czechs scored...or maybe it's right after the birth of his first child...impossible to tell

Okay, I promised myself that I wouldn’t get too upset or disappointed no matter what the outcome was of tonight’s game, and I think I’ve mostly kept my promise. The U.S. team was typically frustrating, but I refuse to overreact to a game in which potentially 9 of the 11 starters that will take the field on against England didn’t see the field. Hopefully, we all know that this game was almost solely about evaluating talent and making decisions by tomorrow morning. With that in mind, simply who Bob Bradley chose to play and how much he chose to play them could tell us a lot, so I’m going to divide the team into several groups.

First, there were the guys that I mentioned above who are locks to start or at least solid locks to make the team. This includes Howard, Donovan, Bocanegra, Demerit, Spector, Dempsey, Bradley, Clark, and Altidore. Really, the only intriguing member of this group is Clark, who is by all accounts assured of a spot in S. Africa. His not appearing tonight could actually be a good thing for him, if Bradley has him favored to start alongside M. Bradley and felt no need to trot him out. If, as we’ve been led to believe, Edu and Clark are in a dead heat to break into the starting lineup, Clark’s omission tonight while Edu played 90 minutes definitely tells us something. Bradley obviously chose to leave Edu in the game to give him a try at center back, but he also chose to start him at center-mid. Not entirely sure what this means for either Edu or Clark.

Okay, the second group of guys are the dudes that are good bets to make it S. Africa but still played tonight for various reasons. I’m thinking Onyewu, Holden, Edu, Ching, Bornstein, Guzan (obviously), Cherundolo, Feilhaber and Goodson. Goodson is obviously the fringiest (I just made that up, like it?) player in this group, but I definitely think he’s headed to S. Africa. He played 90 minutes all right, and Bob Bradley stated after the game that Goodson was the player that impressed him the most. I already talked about Edu, and besides him, Onyewu and Holden are the only other two guys that played tonight that are likely starters in S. Africa (Ching also has an outside shot). Obviously, Onyewu got the run out since he’s recovering from a serious knee injury and needs every second  of game time he can get. Holden is in that same boat a little bit. He made one appearance for Bolton at the end of the season, and his injury wasn’t as serious, but he still needs the game time just like Onyewu. The interesting part is that you would’ve thought Ricardo Clark would also be in that category. He made three starts for Frankfurt to close our their season, but he also missed significant time with a calf injury and you would think he would need some game time as well. I don’t want to read entirely too much into Clark’s absence, but I do think it’s worth noting. Some people might think Feilhaber is more on the fringe than I do, but I simply can’t believe his stock could have dropped so far as to not even warrant his seeing the field. Bradley simply had a limited amount of subs and didn’t feel that he needed to see Clark or Feilhaber on the field tonight. The interesting thing with Clark is that Bradley chose to play Edu, his competitor for the center-mid spot, 90 minutes. I have more to say about Onyewu, but I want to constrain myself to questions about the roster for now, so I’ll leave that for later. For that same reason, I also don’t have much to say about Bornstein, who, despite his many detractors, is still almost assuredly headed to the World Cup.

All right, this is where things get interesting. These are the players who are definitely on the bubble. Pretty much everyone in this group got significant playing time tonight, for the simple reason that if a guy was in this position, he had to play. This was Bradley’s only chance to see some of these guys before he sent them on their way so if there was any chance a guy was (or conversely, wasn’t) going to be on the plane down South, he played tonight. These players are Buddle, Gomez, Johnson, Rogers, Kljestan, Bedoya, and Pearce. Lots to talke about here, so I’m going to give a little attention to every one of them. 

Buddle and Johnson both got the start and went until halftime. I wasn’t super impressed with either of them, and I’m finding it hard to really get too excited about either of them. I thought they each did a good job holding up the ball, and their first touches were pretty good. Unfortunately, I still haven’t seen either of them put themselves in positions to really use their speed, which is really the only reason they’re even being considered. If Bradley is set on having a speedy option up top, I think one of them can make it (I’m leaning towards Buddle, but it’s really a toss up), but if he’s content to move Donovan or someone else up there at times, I could actually see neither of them making it in order to make room for someone else in the crowded midfield. 

Can either of these guys make the final roster?

Gomez got a good goal, but I don’t want to overreact with him either. I didn’t see a whole lot from him, and there were moments where I would have liked to see a little more creativity (like the breakaway with Ching). However, I think he’s done enough at this point to make the squad. He’s shown more of an ability to track back for the ball than Johnson or Buddle and also appears a little better technically.

I think Rogers and Kljestan were in the similar positions of coming into tonight on the outside looking in. The fact that they got into the game shows they have a chance of making the squad, but I think they would have had to really impress Bradley in order to do so. I don’t think either of them really did so, and therefore, I think they’re both still out.

It might seem strange for me to include Pearce in this group, but you have to think his stock dropped more tonight than any other player’s. He was, in my opinion, the biggest culprit in allowing the winning goal-getting caught between helping out or hanging back and then coming in with a late slide that allowed Fenin to break free and send the cross in. The U.S. defense looked suspect on several different occassions tonight, but I thought Pearce looked the worst consistently, and his distribution is also rather suspect. In my opinion he pushed himself down the list, and at this point the back line is in such flux it’s hard to pinpoint exactly who Bradley has penciled in for the backup spots. 

Pearce: Questionable Facial Hair and Questionable Play

 The last two guys in this group, and perhaps the most important U.S. chances in S. Africa, are DaMarcus Beasley and Alejandro Bedoya. The impression among outsiders and the media during training camp has been that these two guys are battling for one of the final roster spots. I’ve been an outspoken fan of Bedoya’s for a while, and I think he’s one of the few wild cards (in a positive way) for the U.S. team. I think Bedoya, Holden, and Torres might be the only guys that I really think are capable of surprising U.S. fans in an awesome way during the World Cup. He’s sort of like Ke$ha in that regard. I’ve just thought all along that Bedoya brought a bit of something that Beasley didn’t, and I also wasn’t ready to forget the last four terrible years from Beasley after one good showing against the Dutch. That being said, I’ve heard positive things about Beasley throughout training camp, and Clint Dempsey said that Beasley was the guy that had impressed him the most so far. I think Beasley is definitely one of Bob Bradley’s “guys,” and I have to admit he did look a bit sharper tonight. On the other hand, Bedoya cam in around the 60th minute, and never really got involved in the game. However, I saw a lot of hustle from Bedoya and nothing to make me lessen my opinion of him. I think his lack of involvement had more to do with the team’s play as a whole during that period, which I think stemmed a lot from having Kljestan and Rogers in the midfield with him. I’m also not sure how I liked Holden in the center. Anyway, these two are the toughest for me to call right now. I’d have to give a slight edge to Beasley in terms of his chances of making the team, although I’d personally still like to see Bedoya.

The last group is reserved for the poor guys that essentially have zero chance of making the roster. I’m looking at you Robbie Findleyand Chad Marshall. Sorry, but if you already had a slim chance of making the team and didn’t even make it on the field tonight, your prospects aren’t looking good.

Okay, so after all that I’m going to make this really simple and just name the 23 man roster that I expect to see tomorrow. Following the roster, I’ll give my reasons.

Keepers: Howard, Guzan, Hahnemann

Defenders: Onyewu, Bocanegra, Demerit, Spector, Bornstein, Goodson, Cherundolo, 

Midfielders: Donovan, Holden, Dempsey, Feilhaber, Bradley, Edu, Clark, Torres, Beasley, Bedoya

Forwards: Altidore, Ching, Gomez

I think Bradley is faced with a pretty interesting conundrum here.  He’s in a position where he can bring pretty much every player that U.S. fans want to see and who have a real chance of making an impact. I don’t think anybody’s crying when they wake up tomorrow and find out they’re not going to see Marshall, Findley, Kljestan, Rogers, Johnson, and Buddle. However, you’re then faced with the issue of not having any serious speedy option up top. I don’t think anybody honestly expects Buddle or Johnson (especially Johnson) to do anything against top class opponents at the World Cup, and the fact that your two best options at forward after Altidore are actually listed as midfielders also allows you to leave off an extra forward. Most people don’t expect Ching or Gomez to start anyway, so you still have two backups.

Therefore, that last roster spot really comes down to Beasley, Bedoya, Torres, and Pearce. The defense is up for debate, but anybody that has played soccer for any length of time knows that your defensive unit is the one that you tinker with the least. You want to find some guys, get them serious minutes together, and stick with them, because communication is so key. One miscue can cost you the game. Therfore, I find it hard to believe that Bradley would include Pearce at the expense of another midfield option, considering he might be moving one or both of his best midfielders to forward at various times. Let’s just be honest, if Pearce sees the field, someone has already gotten seriously injured or red carded in an earlier game. The back line will feature some combination of Demerit, Onyewu, Spector, Cherundolo, and Bocanegra. After that, the back-up left back is still Jonathan Bornstein in my opinion, and I don’t think Pearce needs to make the trip.

If there are differences between my roster above and Bradley’s released tomorrow, I would expect it to be either Pearce or Buddle in and Bedoya out.

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