Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Roster for England?

We won't know who makes the final list until it's actually released but I'll take a guess at who may or may not be on it based on some Bob Bradley tendencies.

- Bradley doesn't like to yank guys away from MLS games if he doesn't have to. That being said, don't expect Brian Ching, Ricardo Clark or Kenny Cooper to make the team for England, as Houston and FC Dallas play on May 28 as well. A notable exception to that is Landon Donovan, but the Galaxy doesn't play until the weekend.

- Bradley won't throw any uncapped players into the fire, at least none that have to travel a long way to do so. He said as much before his second-ever match. Against Mexico on Feb. 7, 2007, Bradley did not call up any of the then young, untested foreign-based players such as Benny Feilhaber, Jay DeMerit or even Michael Bradley who had two caps in 2006. His reasoning: it's asking a lot for youngsters to make a trans-Atlantic trip and try to settle into an unfamiliar camp situation. Thus, I wouldn't expect Robbie Rogers or Michael Orozco in the mix.

- Bradley likes to maintain positive relationships with club teams. Whether its MLS teams or foreign clubs, Bradley will sometimes leave players off the team if it may upset the club and potentially the player's situation there. I wouldn't Orozco for that reason aside from the previous one for the fact that San Luis is still alive for the Mexican league title. Also, I'd guess that DaMarcus Beasley will be left off. With Rangers, he injured his knee, rehabbed and finally returned enough to play a few minutes. I don't think Rangers would be too happy to see Beasley, then, take the field for 90 minutes against England.

Anyway, those are just a few of the tendencies I've picked up on from Bradley during his tenure with the US national team. We'll see if I'm off the mark or not when the roster is released, possibly within the next few hours.

2 comments:

just another one of you said...

on the flip side wouldn't Beaz be getting match fit at the expense of USMNT and not the Rangers. I can see how they could benefit.

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