You might be asking yourself, why is there a soccer post on the best Cheesehead Sports Blog on the web? First, I am a huge soccer fan so there will be a bunch of soccer content leading up and through the 2010 World Cup in South Africa which runs from June 11th to July 11th. Second, Jay DeMerit, a native Cheesehead, has a good chance of starting as a central defender for the United States.
After missing nine straight World Cups from 1954 to 1986, the United States is qualified for their sixth straight World Cup (1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, and 2010) drawing Algeria, Slovenia, and England in Group C. Bob Bradley, the United States Men's World Cup Coach, took the first step towards filling his 23-man roster for South Africa by naming his preliminary 30-man roster:
Goalkeepers (3): Brad Guzan, Tim Howard, and Marcus Hahnemann
Defenders (9): Carlos Bocanegra, Jonathan Bornstein, Steve Cherundolo, Jay DeMerit, Clarence Goodson, Chad Marshall, Oguchi Onyewu, Heath Pearce, and Jonathan Spector
Midfielders (12): DaMarcus Beasley, Alejandro Bedoya, Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Maurice Edu, Benny Feilhaber, Stuart Holden, Sacha Kljestan, Robbie Rogers, and Jose Torres
Forwards (6): Jozy Altidore, Edson Buddle, Brian Ching, Robbie Findley, Herculez Gomez, and Eddie Johnson
The household names that were left off the provisional 30-man roster were Freddy Adu, Conor Casey, and Charlie Davies. Bob Bradley is justified in leaving Adu off the 30-man provisional roster. Adu has never lived up to his hype and is more of a novelty than anything else at this point.
Conor Casey scored two goals against Honduras to help the United States clinch a berth in the 2010 World Cup berth last October. I am not surprised was left off the provisional roster but it is too bad for a guy that scored such crucial goals for the United States.
Charlie Davies was involved in a potentially life threatening car accident on October 13, 2009 and is still not match fit so his exclusion is not that surprising.
The United States plays friendlies against the Czech Republic on May 25th and Turkey on May 29th, which gives Bob Bradley two more chances, besides training, to evaluate the 30 men mentioned above before Bradley has to submit his final 23-man roster to FIFA on June 1. My best guess at the 23-man roster is:
Goalkeepers (3): Brad Guzan, Tim Howard, and Marcus Hahnemann
Defenders (7): Carlos Bocanegra, Jonathan Bornstein, Steve Cherundolo, Jay DeMerit, Clarence Goodson, Oguchi Onyewu, and Jonathan Spector.
Midfielders (9): DaMarcus Beasley, Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Maurice Edu, Benny Feilhaber, Stuart Holden, and Jose Torres
Forwards (4): Jozy Altidore, Edson Buddle, Robbie Findley, and Herculez Gomez.
Absent serious injury, if I were Bob Bradley, I would play these 11 guys in a 4-5-1 formation against England:
Goalkeeper: Tim Howard
Defenders (4): Steve Cherundolo (RB), Jay DeMerit (CB), Oguchi Onyewu (CB), Carlos Bocanegra (LB)
Midfielders (5): DaMarcus Beasley (LM), Maurice Edu (DM), Michael Bradley (CM), Landon Donovan (AM), Clint Dempsey (RM)
Forwards(1): Jozy Altidore
If you are interested in more soccer coverage, check back over the next few months for more World Cup coverage.
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