Sunday, June 10, 2007

Bad break

For Copa America, I thought Kenny Cooper had a chance of playing for the U.S. He was doing well in league, had already scored for the U.S and offers a big target for the midfielders.

But Cooper won't be going anywhere for a while. He broke a bone in his right leg in Saturday's 3-1 win over L.A. and will be out 6-8 weeks.

That's really a shame for Cooper. I don't know, maybe he wasn't an option for Copa America but to have a guy go down like this in early June is difficult. It'll be August before he plays and then he's going to need time to regain his match fitness and touch so who knows when he'll actually be effective again.

Big loss.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I feel bad for KC, but i don't think he was an option for copa america. He is way too slow for international play, and doesn't know how to use that big body to make his physical presence felt in the game. I don't know if he's timid or what, but whithout the speed or physicality, i don't think he can play with the big boys...

L.B. said...

You make a good point and maybe he was never really in the plans for Copa America. Still, when you consider the options for strikers with who is already on the team and who is available, the pickings get slim pretty quickly.

Maybe Bob calls in a player for Copa America that he hadn't called in before, ala Frankie Hejduk and Steve Ralston for Gold Cup. If that's the case, we might see Josh Wolff or perhaps Jeff Cunningham. But who else is there?

Maybe Bob plans on taking the quartet he's got now - Brian Ching, Landon Donovan, Taylor Twellman, Eddie Johnson.

I just think he might have given Cooper another chance but that's all moot now.

Anonymous said...

I feel like Cooper has gotten the short shrift from the USMNT and now it's going to be a tough recuperation for him. I wish KC all the best.

Luis, you make a good point about the lack of forward depth on this team. I don't know how Chris Rolfe is recovering but he's not exactly the most intimidating striker around. At this point, I honestly wouldn't be too surprised if we saw Bradley fave Ante Razov called in

if Colombia doesn't want him, can we take Juan Pablo
Angel?

Anonymous said...

you said "kenny cooper broke his leg." I think you meant "Tyrone Marshall broke Cooper's leg."