The U.S. have a pair of upcoming friendlies next month October 9th vs. Poland and the 12th vs. Columbia, and apparently Bob Bradley isn't messing around with too many newbies in the roster.
The only notable omission, which makes sense, is Landon Donovan, who is immersed in the MLS playoff jockeying. But Bradley has called upon his son Michael as well as notables Clint Dempsey, Maurice Edu, Jozy Altidore, Tim Howard, Steve Cherundolo, Carlos Bocanegra, Benny Feilhaber, Stuart Holden and Oguchi Onyewu.
There were two big new names also called up for the squad, one of which has been mentioned on numerous occasions the other who is a bit of an unknown.
Jermaine Jones could finally make his US MNT debut. The Schalke player and former German international, who was raised in Germany but has an American father, could be an interesting addition to the mix. He brings the toughness and fierce intensity to the squad with his experience in the Bundesliga.
The other player is former North Carolina defender Eric Lichaj, who signed for Aston Villa in 2007 and finally made his debut with the senior Villa side this year. Besides that I don't know much about the young kid, but I do know the US are most vulnerable on defense where they have seemingly failed to develop any young players at that position of any real quality lately. If you look at the World Cup the guys that did play well on defense were old -- Cherundolo and Bocanegra. Onyewu is getting up in age, and seems to be slipping after sustaining a patella tendon tear last year. Jay Demeritt is also old and although he was great at the Confederations Cup in 2009, struggled mightily this past summer at the World Cup.
Omar Gonzalez, another young defender many see as the future center defender for the MNT, also will not play as he joins Donovan and Edson Buddle in the Galaxy's playoff push.
Here is the complete list:
Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, England), Tim Howard (Everton, England)
Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Etienne, France), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, Germany), Clarence Goodson (IK Start, Norway), Eric Lichaj (Aston Villa, England), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan, Italy), Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaelland, Denmark), Heath Pearce (Dallas), Jonathan Spector (West Ham, England)
Midfielders: Alejandro Bedoya (Orebro, Sweden), Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach, Germany), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus, Denmark), Stuart Holden (Bolton, England), Jermaine Jones (Schalke, Germany), Brek Shea (Dallas)
Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Villarreal, Spain), Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England), Eddie Johnson (Fulham, England).
The U.S. have a pair of upcoming friendlies next month October 9th vs. Poland and the 12th vs. Columbia, and apparently Bob Bradley isn't messing around with too many newbies in the roster. 
No comments:
Post a Comment