Sunday, July 11, 2010

Forecast 2014: Your USA Squad

Everyone loves to play armchair manager.  Yours truly included.  So let's take a peak at who your squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup could be. 

Goalkeepers: Tim Howard will be 35 by the time Brazil roles around, but could still very well be the starting keeper should he keep his form and job at Everton.  Brad Guzan should be in firm control of Aston Villa's pipes by that time and could supplant Howard.  Third keeper will be an interesting one.  Bill Hamid, Dominic Cervi, and Chris Seitz are all in line for a shot.

Defenders: Just going to throw some names out there.  On the right side  Eric Lichaj from Aston Villa is a good bet since he's likely to be included in that clubs first 18 starting this season.  Daniel Williams from Freiburg is also an option, as is Fabian Williams of Wolfsburg.  Jonathan Spector is the easy choice, but could be anywhere on the backline.  Another two to keep an eye on are Sean Franklin and Greg Garza.  In the center, Oguchi Onyewu will be 32 but should still be at the top of his game.  Other center options include Omar Gonzalez, Ike Opara, Gale Agbossumonde, Chad Marshall, and Tim Ward.  This wouldn't be the US National Team if there wasn't questions on the left flank.  Edgar Castillo, Heath Pearce, Jonathan Bornstein and Hunter Freeman are options, and hopefully by that time a viable option has come to fruition.

Midfielders: I don't expect to many new names this time around.  Michael Bradley and Maurice Edu should be the starters, and Ricardo Clark, Benny Feilhaber, and Jose Torres should round out the middle.  Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Stuart Holden, and DaMarcus Beasley should all still be in the mix.  Other names to watch include Jermaine Jones, Alejandro Bedoya, Luis Gil, Sebastian Lleget, Danny Cruz, Robbie Rogers, Freddy Adu, Danny Szetela, Sal Zizzo, Geoff Cameron, Alex Zahavi,  Dax McCarty and Sam Cronin.

Forwards: Jozy Altidore, Charlie Davies are the two for sure things (fingers crossed).  Who backs them up could include Danny Mwanga, Mike Grella, Marcus Tracy, and Adrian Ruelas or any high risers who haven't yet been named.

Isn't this fun?  Only four years away from the Brazilian spectacle.  Next up we'll look at who the new coach of the US National Team could be.