Bob Bradley released his 20-man roster for his first-ever meeting with Mexico. Considering Mexico's own 23-man list, this is a rather underwhelming bunch.
No Oguchi Onyewu. No DaMarcus Beasley. No Steve Cherundolo. No Eddie Lewis.
Just speculating, but it seems to me that those four are the most likely candidates missing from the eight players Bradley requested from their respective European clubs. Seems Bradley doesn't quite have the respect among the European clubs to demand the release of these players even on a FIFA date.
Now, before I move on to my thoughts about who's here, it seems many were anxious about any new players joining the fray but Bradley was pretty adamant against bringing any uncapped European players into the team for this game. So all you Jonathan Spector lovers, you'll have to wait your turn to see this super-hyped defender make his Nats debut.
The four Euros who will make the trip - Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey, Bobby Convey and Carlos Bocanegra - will all play key roles and should all start. Mix in Landon Donovan and Pablo Mastroeni and the U.S. has the makings of a solid foundation.
Still, this will be perhaps the most difficult meeting US-Mexico game since the 2002 World Cup. The 2005 meeting in Azteca was somewhat favorable for the US but Bruce Arena botched it before the game even started by not starting Brian McBride. This time around, though, the talent is clearly not at the same level it was entering that game.
Bottom line, though, is this US team will be prepared. Experienced or not, Bradley will have his team ready to play and will have a strong game plan in place. And that's gotta count for something.
14 comments:
Spector has 3 caps - i think he played in a qualifier for us as well as vs. poland and scotland maybe? But he has 3 caps for sure.
He has 3 caps
I believe that Spector has played for the US three times, but am sure he has played at least once. I was at the Panama game in Foxboro where his performance was warm and cold. That was a meaningless game with an at best "B" USMNT.
11/17/2004 vs. Jamaica
10/12/2005 vs. Panama
11/12/2005 vs. Scotland
OK, ok, it's a simple mistake on Luis' part. I mean, I knew Spector had been capped, but I forget other stuff all the time. It's true that we haven't seen Spector in a while.
Anyway, it's still surprising that other players didn't come. I was trying to get information today about the other three players that had been contacted by release requests. (We already know Gooch was one.) No dice, though. U.S. soccer is keeping that info pretty quiet.
It was actually because of Spector's caps that I wasn't sure if Bradley would consider him one of the young players he'd rather not bring in because of inexperience. I didn't know if Spector would be considered inexperienced. I guess he is - and considering how little he has played, that kind of makes sense.
i was suprised to see he only played 3 times. I remember thinking he would have been an alternate for the World Cup (and had an outside shot of making it given our depth at LB) so he must have played more. I guess I just remember him in the U-20's.
Either way I would have liked to seen him called in. Coming in for only 2 days and playing a high profile match is exactly what they'll have to do during Qualifiers. So why not test a guy like Spector in that enviroment now?
It's funny that you mention Spector with the U20's. He hardly played. He didn't participate in qualifying and then he was injured early on against Argentina, where a young Nathan Sturgis took over. Sturgis, by the way, played well in the next couple of games. I thought he should have been left in unless Spector was 100% again. He wasn't, though, and the U.S. lost when he came back in the Italy game. So that's a game and 1/3 of a game. Not much of a U20 career.
My bad. 3 caps. But when you compare his Senior national team career to the four who did come in, he may as well be uncapped.
More thoughts...
I can't speak for Bob Bradley but what he probably didn't want is to go to the trouble of bringing in inexperienced players from Europe, make them travel across the Atlantic and across the United States, have one, maybe two training sessions and throw them onto the field against a team like Mexico.
Clearly, Bocanegra, Howard, Convey and Dempsey have the ability to step in and pick up right where the rest of the team left off.
Spector, with his wealth of international experience (three caps, 1 1/3 U-20 WYC performance) is up there in that class as well.
Or not.
LB and AC,
No disrespect intended with the Spector comment. You are both doing a great job! Please keep up the great work.
Tim
Maybe we just want Spector in there for his boyish good looks.
I dont think anybody was that concerned about his # of caps, just making a comment. We all love this blog!
Spector does have... wait, that's Andrea's department.
Spector may have a babyface, but he's built like a bruiser.
Hey, we don't mind getting corrected or having you guys disagree with us, by the way. It means people are actually reading our blog. (not just looking at the pictures) Thanks for participating!
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