Poland and Colombia Roster Released

Couple surprises, but nothing to crazy from Bob Bradley this time, except that this roster does not feature Jonathan Bornstein, Ricardo Clark, or Robbie Findley (praise Jesus).  Here is it:

U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION
GOALKEEPERS (2): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton)
DEFENDERS (8): Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Étienne), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Eric Lichaj (Aston Villa), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan), Michael Parkhurst (FC Nordsjaelland), Heath Pearce (FC Dallas), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Alejandro Bedoya (Örebro), Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Stuart Holden (Bolton Wanderers), Jermaine Jones (FC Schalke), Brek Shea (FC Dallas)
FORWARDS (3): Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Eddie Johnson (Fulham)

Mostly European roster here as FC Dallas is the only MLS team to contribute players for the camp.  The capless players are Jermaine Jones, Brek Shea, and Eric Lichaj.  Most surprising inclusions?  Has to be Michael Parkhurst and Brek Shea to be sure.  But I'm perfectly alright with both though.  Parkhurst is playing well with FC Nordsjaelland and Brek Shea is turning in a strong performance with FC Dallas so far this season.

Other Notes:

*Really would've liked to see guys like Hunter Freeman, Ryan Miller, Dominic Cervi, and Mikkel Diskerud. 

*Eddie Johnson back in the mix after working hard at Fulham, he's earned it.

*This roster features three guys who are currently on the rosters of Champions League clubs: Maurice Edu (Rangers), Jermaine Jones (Schalke), and Oguchi Oneywu (AC Milan).  The most ever featured on a US roster. 

*Tim Howard and Brad Guzan will probably split the reps here.  Look for Howard against Poland and Guzan against Colombia.

*Pachuca has a match on the 9th, probably the reason why Hurculez Gomez, Jose Torres, and Marco Vidal were left off.

*The FC Dallas duo of Heath Pearce and Brek Shea won't be joining the camp until October 10.

*People seem to be whining about the exclusion of the LA Galaxy contingent of Landon Donovan, Edson Buddle, Omar Gonzalez, and Sean Franklin.  Lets be real here, Donovan has been playing soccer non-stop for over two years, he needs a rest.  Buddle, Gonzalez and Frankin need to concentrate on the MLS playoffs for the Galaxy.  I'd imagine those three get looks in November and/or January.

Poland Roster:

GOALKEEPERS (3): Artur Boruc (AC Fiorentina), Grzegorz Sandomierski (Jagiellonia Białystok), Przemysław Tytoń (Roda JC Kerkrade)

DEFENDERS (7): Kamil Glik (Palermo), Łukasz Mierzejewski (Cracovia Kraków), Dariusz Pietrasiak (Polonia Warszawa), Łukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund), Grzegorz Wojtkowiak (Lech Poznań), Hubert Wołąkiewicz (Lechia Gdańsk), Michał Żewłakow (Ankaragucu)

MIDFIELDERS (8): Jakub Błaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund), Grzegorz Bonin (Górnik Zabrze), Radosław Majewski (Nottingham Forest), Adam Matuszczyk (1 FC Koeln)

Adrian Mierzejewski (Polonia Warszawa), Rafał Murawski (Rubin Kazań), Ludovic Obraniak (Lille OSC), Bartosz Salamon (US Foggia)

FORWARDS (5): Kamil Grosicki (Jagiellonia Białystok), Ireneusz Jeleń (AJ Auxerre), Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund), Andrzej Niedzielan (Korona Kielce), Euzebiusz Smolarek (Polonia Warszawa)

Pretty much the full team from Poland, good to see.  It will be a good test for the US, but the last time the two teams met, it was 2008, in Krakow, Poland, which the US won 3-0 on goals from Carlos Bocanegra, Oguchi Onyewu, and Eddie Lewis.  Before that, it was a 1-0 win for the US in the snow in Kaiserslautern, Germany through Clint Dempsey.  

Here's a shot at the starting 11 for the match:

(4-2-3-1)

--------------------------Howard

Cherundolo-----Goodson-----Onyewu-----Bocanegra

---------------Bradley---Jones---Edu

Holden---------------------------------------Dempsey

--------------------------Altidore

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. 

Sunil Gulati Under Attack...Finally

Juergen Klinsmann has let slip the dogs of war...and Sunil Gulati is cowering behind closed doors and the bland "no comment" response.  In an interview during the recent Kansas City- Chivas USA game, Klinsmann's comments about why talks broke down incited rage and hysteria amongst the fans and media.  Here is some further reading on the matter:

Ives Galarcep at Fox Soccer
Jeff Carlisle at ESPN Soccernet
Ryan Rosenblatt at All Things Footy
Jason Davis at Match Fit USA
Richard Snowden at Soccer365
Grant Wahl at Sports Illustrated

If you read those, you will see, and hopefully agree, that Sunil Gulati isn't the President of the USSF much longer.  It's a sad and pathetic veil of secrecy that Gulati is hiding behind.  US Soccer needs some transparency, and Gulati and the USSF are becoming as corrupt and misleading as FIFA and CONCACAF.

Jurgen Rattles the Saber

As has been reported over at The Shin Guardian, Jurgen Klinsmann stated in an interview during last nights Kansas City-Chivas USA match, that US head honcho Sunil Gulati did contact him about the "vacant" US coaching position.  But ultimately the sticking point was Gulati's refusal to allow Klinsmann control of the "technical staff" within US Soccer.  Fishy says I, abomination says most everyone else. 

It does seem a bit immature that the parties involved couldn't agree to such a small thing such as control of the staff.  Do I think that Klinsy would come and immediately clean house?  No, not at all.  Thomas Rongen and Claudio Reyna are doing great thus far and Klinsmann probably just wanted to be able to advise those two on the methods and madness of each.

Something to keep an eye for any future interview with Gulati, though we all know that it's unlikely that Gulati comments on it. 

MLS Reserve League at TSG

Here is a link to my latest piece from a few days ago, over at The Shin Guardian.  It's on the impending return of the MLS Reserve League.

http://theshinguardian.com/2010/09/15/mls-reserve-league-a-test-of-league-strength/