U.S. team roster for World Cup soccer named
And then there were 23.
Bob Bradley, the U.S. national team coach, on Wednesday named his World Cup roster and in doing so demonstrated a welcome but previously unsuspected gambling streak by making some surprise choices.
The best examples?
How about including three forwards — Edson Buddle, Herculez Gomez and Robbie Findley — who have played a grand total of nine international matches and did not feature in a single qualifying game for South Africa 2010?
How about naming only seven defenders, a couple of whom, Oguchi Onyewu and Carlos Bocanegra, are fighting to regain match fitness after surgery?
How about selecting only eight players who have been to a World Cup before, including only six who have actually played in a World Cup game?
“Clearly, there were some tough decisions to make,” Bradley said at ESPN’s studio in Bristol, Conn, where the roster of 23 was announced on “SportsCenter.” “We are confident that this is a group of players that will work together and be committed to doing whatever it takes to be successful.”
The U.S. plays England, Slovenia and Algeria in the first round of the June 11-July 11 tournament.
Bradley said he believes the roster contains the correct mix of experience “and some newer faces that have proved they belong.”
Only four of the 23 players are from Major League Soccer — the Galaxy’s Buddle and Landon Donovan, Chivas USA’s Jonathan Bornstein, and Real Salt Lake’s Findley.
Seventeen players are from European clubs and two, Gomez and Jose “Paco” Torres, play in Mexico.
To get down to 23, Bradley had to cut seven players. The unfortunate seven were defenders Heath Pearce and Chad Marshall; midfielders Sacha Kljestan, Alejandro Bedoya and Robbie Rogers, and forwards Brian Ching and Eddie Johnson, both of whom were on the U.S. squad at Germany ’06.
Midfielder Stuart Holden, who survived the cut, said after the U.S. lost, 4-2, to the Czech Republic in a Tuesday night warmup match, that the players would rally behind those who did not make it.
“That’s the worst thing you want to hear, that you’re not going to South Africa,” Holden said. “Being part of the final 23 is a privilege and an honor, and if you’re not [selected], you’re a professional and you have to take it and support the guys that do make it.
“The way this team has been built and the camaraderie in the group, if you’re one of the unfortunate ones, you’re going to be supported by the guys and you’re going to support the guys in South Africa.”
This will be the third World Cup for Donovan, defender Steve Cherundolo and midfielder DaMarcus Beasley, each of whom were on then-coach Bruce Arena’s teams at Korea/Japan ’02 and Germany ’06.
Donovan said he was delighted that Beasley had survived the cut. Donovan, Beasley and Onyewu, each of them 28, have been playing together on various U.S. teams since they were 15.
“I’m really, really happy for Beas,” Donovan said. “He’s really earned it. In a camp like this, you don’t get named to the team just to get named to the team.
“You don’t make it and then it stops. Now is the beginning, so I’m really excited for him to get going and start pushing guys. I think if he ends up playing, he’s going to help us a lot.”
Bornstein said the absence of an eighth defender was not a concern.
“We’ve got a couple of guys who can slot into the back [from midfield]. Beasley has played left back and Maurice Edu played in the center back position last night” against the Czechs. “A lot of guys have versatility, and on any team that helps.”
The most notable surprise, however, was the inclusion of not just one newcomer but three of them in the attack — Buddle, Gomez and Findley.
Their claim was based on recent and relatively recent form. Buddle is the leading goal scorer in MLS. Gomez was the co-top scorer in the Mexican league with Puebla, and Findley won the MLS title with Real Salt Lake.
“Plain and simple, Edson and Herculez have had really good stretches and scored a lot of goals,” Bradley said.
“Up to this point in MLS, Edson’s been one of the best players in the league, and we felt that type of form needed to really count.”
Findley’s value is his speed off the bench when the opponent might be tiring.
“His speed when he comes into a match, his willingness to try to run behind a defense, we felt that those are things that when we looked at everything our team had, we could still use some of those qualities,” Bradley said.
The U.S. has two warmup matches left — against Turkey in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon and against Australia in Roodepoort, South Africa, on June 5.
The team, which will visit President Obama at the White House on Thursday, leaves for the World Cup on Sunday.
