Yeah, I bailed on this space over the weekend for some sunny weather and birthday activities — guess my age, win a prize. No, not really.
In any case, you’ve seen this already:
GOALKEEPERS
Brad Guzan (Aston Villa/ENG), Tim Howard (Everton/ENG)
DEFENDERS
Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes/FRA), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Danny Califf (FC Midtjylland/DEN), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege/BEL), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock/GER), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC)
MIDFIELDERS
DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers/SCO), Michael Bradley (Borussia M”nchengladbach/GER), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), Jose Francisco Torres (Pachuca/MEX)
FORWARDS
Jozy Altidore (Xerez/SPAIN), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF/SWE) Clint Dempsey (Fulham/ENG), Landon Donovan (Bayern Munich/GER).
Name Caps/Goals
Donovan, Landon 105/37
Beasley, DaMarcus 82/17
Hejduk, Frankie 81/6
Bocanegra, Carlos 62/10
Dempsey, Clint 46/13
Onyewu, Oguchi 38/5
Howard, Tim 35/0
Ching, Brian 32/9
Bradley, Michael 25/3
Califf, Danny 22/1
Pearce, Heath 21/0
Clark, Ricardo 16/1
Bornstein, Jonathan 14/1
Kljestan, Sacha 13/3
Guzan, Brad 11/0
Altidore, Jozy 6/2
Davies, Charlie 5/1
Torres, Jose Francisco 2/0
Wynne, Marvell 2/0
Rogers, Robbie 1/0
Now, who gets left off the final 18? My votes have to be Rogers and Torres. I just can’t see Rogers making his first appearance in a meaningful game coming against Mexico. Not when Kljestan probably starts on the bench. That argument runs for Torres, too, but I think the larger argument for him is that he’s been brought into this camp to see what it’s like. The pressure for a young guy who plays in Mexico to play against Mexico, to me, would be enormous, and too much to ask.
This is what U.S. head coach Bob Bradley said when I asked him about what the guys at the bottom of this roster gain in this setting:
“They learn from the veteran players. They see the way that guys like Timmy Howard and Carlos Bocanegra and Oguchi Onyewu come into the camp. They see early on the tone those players set for the team, and they get a sense as to how we operate. All those players now have had a little bit of experience with the national team and have shown good qualities, and so every time, you hope that the progress continues. You can tell from the way that everybody arrived that there’s a focus and a sense of the excitement level of playing Mexico.”
