U.S. gets good wishes from White House
Reporting from Philadelphia -- Now that the 23 players have been picked and now that they have been to the White House for a pep talk from the president, there is really only one thing left for the U.S. World Cup soccer team to do: Figure out the starting 11.
Coach Bob Bradley and his players headed from Hartford to Philadelphia via Washington, Thursday morning’s stopover in the nation’s capital intended to provide inspiration for Landon Donovan and company ahead of their South African adventure.
President Obama wished them well, saying “how incredibly proud we are of the team” and telling the players “you will have somebody in the Oval Office who’s going to be watching ESPN to make sure that things are going OK.”
Presumably, Obama meant on the field in South Africa rather than at over at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn. But you never know.
In any event, there was another president on hand at the White House for the well-wishing ceremony —former President Bill Clinton, who is honorary chairman of the bid committee seeking to organize the 2018 or 2022 World Cup in the U.S.
Clinton was taken by the rather dapper tan shoes worn by all the U.S. players and coaches and commented on them. But, as he well knows, it is what the players do with their feet, rather than what they put on them, that will count at the World Cup.
On Saturday afternoon, the U.S. plays Turkey in its next-to-last warmup game before its tournament opener against England on June 12.
Now that the roster of 23 has been finalized, Bradley will want to give a majority of his likely World Cup starters time together on the field, in this game and in the final warmup against Australia on June 5 in Roodepoort, South Africa.
That means some or all of the eight players who did not feature in Tuesday night’s 4-2 loss to the Czech Republic in East Hartford will see time.
The group consists of Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard, Carlos Bocanegra, Jay DeMerit, Jozy Altidore, Benny Feilhaber and Michael Bradley, the coach’s son.
Chances are, however, that Marcus Hahnemann could be the starting goalkeeper against Turkey because Howard is coming off an injury and Brad Guzan played Tuesday. Also, Bocanegra might be given more time to rest after hernia surgery this month.
The other six should all play at least a portion of the game.
With midfielder Bradley a certainty, and with Dempsey and Donovan occupying the flanks, it will be interesting to see if the U.S. plays a second holding midfielder — Ricardo Clark or Maurice Edu — or an attacking one — Feilhaber or Jose Torres — against the Turks.
Then there are defensive choices to be made. Edu spent some of Tuesday game as a central defender rather than a midfielder. DaMarcus Beasley has been mentioned as a possible starter at left back instead of Jonathan Bornstein.
Of even more interest, however, is who Bradley plays in attack. Conventional wisdom has it that Altidore is a lock to start up front, but the U.S. coaches have to figure out which of his three “rookie” forwards — Edson Buddle, Herculez Gomez or Robbie Findley — works best with Altidore.
Former U.S. World Cup player Alexi Lalas was wondering exactly that over at ESPN on Tuesday and the suggestion that Bradley could give each of the three players 30 minutes was well received.
A crowd of more than 50,000 is expected for Saturday’s game at Lincoln Financial Field (11 a.m. PDT, ESPN2 and Galavision, with a 30-minute pregame show).
The team flies to South Africa on Sunday, although it is possible that Altidore has the date confused.
“We still have some time to work on a lot of things,” he said, “and I honestly think we’re going to be flying on June 12.”
