Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Who's earned it?

In 10 days the United States will play Poland at Soldier Field in Chicago.  Next week, camp starts, probably on Tuesday or Wednesday.  The roster will be out sometime soon.  Today, NP takes a shot and suggests who deserves a shot:

Goalkeepers (2): Brad Guzan, Dominic Cervi 
Possibles: Tim Howard, Sean Johnson

Simple enough here, no need for Tim Howard to come overseas with Everton struggling mightily early in the season.  Brad Guzan needs the reps since he's still riding pine behind US legend Brad Friedel at Aston Villa.  Dominic Cervi is currently the back up at Celtic is 24 and could well be in the picture for the next 4 years.  He deserves his shot.  There's a chance that Tim Howard does come across the pond, and perhaps the Chicago Fire's Sean Johnson gets his first of what would seem to be many call ups to the national team.

Defenders (7): Steve Cherundolo, Eric Lichaj, Jonathan Spector, Oguchi Onyewu, Clarence Goodson, Carlos Bocanegra, Hunter Freeman
Possibles: Jay DeMerit, Omar Gonzalez, Sean Franklin, Kevin Alston, Ryan Miller, Jonathan Bornstein, Edgar Castillo


Pretty straight forward group, Eric Lichaj (Aston Villa) and Hunter Freeman (IK Start) get their first senior team call ups.  The war veterans (Cherundolo, Bocanegra, and Onyewu) come in for a look as Cherundolo is captaining Hannover to their best season in a long time and Bocanegra is helping St. Etienne hang on to the top spot in France.  DeMerit is clubless, but may get a callup due his hometown being...Chicago.  The LA Galaxy don't have a match during the international break, so Gonzalez and Franklin could get a call, both have certainly earned it.  I'm really hoping we don't see Bornstein. 


Midfielders (8): Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones, Maurice Edu, Benny Feilhaber, Landon Donovan, Mikkel Diskerud, Alejandro Bedoya, Stuart Holden
Possibles: Sacha Kljestan, Ricardo Clark, DaMarcus Beasley, Jose Torres, Marco Vidal, Jared Jeffery


All the usual faces for the midfield.  Mikkel Diskerud (Stabaek) and Jermaine Jones(Schalke) look to get their first caps.  Ale Bedoya gets another run out after a less-than-impressive performance against Brazil.  I'll be really interested in seeing how the field gets run out for these two games.  Here's to hoping for a 4-2-3-1


Forwards: Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore, Hurculez Gomez, Edson Buddle, Eddie Johnson
Possibles: Conor Doyle, Justin Braun, Brian McBride


Clint is getting all of his time up top this season at Fulham, so he comes in for that same stint with the Nats.  Jozy Altidore needs games and he's not getting them in Spain.  Eddie Johnson has played more this season with Fulham since he got there in 2008.  He gets the call.  Chivas luck-boy Justin Braun may get a call here as well, but all of his goals are just that...lucky, he gets a January call, but not with the big boys.  McBride could get a call here as well, since he is retiring from professional soccer at the end of the season, a sending off from the Nats in his town would only be fitting. 

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