Bradley's B's look like A's

Despite the fact that Bradley has kept many of these players out of the national team pool, a few on the U.S. Gold Cup squad are showing that they still no how to swim. And it's no surprise to TYH readers that guys like Robbie Rogers, Benny Feilhaber, Stuart Holden and Santino Quaranta are making a strong case for inclusion in the 2010 World Cup squad. Ok, so Grenada was a joke. But Honduras certainly tested this young team with its speed and aggressiveness. Result 2-0.

Here are the highlights:

Keeping the competition level in perspective, this is why I was calling for Bradley to get these guys more minutes. It's hard to tell how good these guys really are. I mean, Marvin Chavez is no Luis Fabiano. But hopefully a good showing will get some of these guys a ticket to South Africa (or at least to a few meaningless qualifiers or exhibitions).

And for those of you who think I'm just jumping late on the bandwagon, check out this post from a year ago. I said this about Robbie Rogers:

I have seen the future of American soccer and his name is alliterative. Rogers should be in camp. He should get minutes. He’s young, but look what the youngsters brought back in the 2002 World Cup. Sometimes you gotta go with the fearless youngster over the old timers (I’m looking at you Eddie Lewis).

...and pain

Joy!

10 players who could revive USA

Strange things happen in soccer. After losing three of four and surrendering nine goals, no one would have argued, not even Bob Bradley, that Team USA needed some serious CPR. And on the brink of elimination, this team pulled together and managed an impressive 3-0 win over Egypt. That coupled with Italy's 3-0 loss to Brazil has put the U.S. in the semifinals of the Confederations Cup. Do you believe in miracles?

But wait a second. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. The U.S. must play the 2008 European champions Spain, and barring an even more inconceivable result, the U.S. will be going home after Wednesday.

What this tournament proved is that the U.S. has some quality (i.e. Egypt win), but that Bradley hasn't been successful in developing the quality (i.e. Brazil, Italy losses). The emotion of last weekend's surprise advancement aside, I still think that Bradley should be fired in favor of someone who can assemble a talented team and build depth for next year. But whoever is in charge needs to make use of The Gold Cup to run out a few players who could build that depth and who could end up starting next summer.

Here are ten players who should be called up. None of them can turn the team into world beaters single-handedly. There are no red, white and blue Peles, but everyone on this list should have gotten multiple looks already:

10)*KENNY COOPER (F) - Coop is like Brian Ching, only he can score some with his feet. He's not by any means prolific, but his performance last season for FC Dallas should have earned him a consistent spot among the subs, if not a few starts. Bradley has something against him, and their relationship seemed to completely ice over when Cooper turned down a call up from his country to help his club. Time to thaw out those hard feelings.

9) JERMAINE JONES (D/M) - There's probably not enough time to get him cleared to play for the U.S. before the Gold Cup, but the U.S. should do their due diligence on Jones and get him on the team sooner rather than later. Building a World Cup squad should be about quality and depth, and we need players like Jones to step in if our key defenders should get injured.

8) *SANTINO QUARANTA (M) - News from Goff is that he will be called up for the Gold Cup and I think it's an excellent decision (cough, cough ... agreeing with Bradley ... cough, oh no!). Following Convey and Adu, he was DC's next great protege, but he had a run in with a monkey and has struggled to stay on the pitch. He has tremendous upside, however, and might surprise a few fans.

7) TAYLOR TWELLMAN (F) - Where's he been? Hurt for much of last MLS season, Double-T is still the best answer to the U.S.'s scoring issues. The problem is he hasn't been used enough on the international stage to know if he could be the next Brian McBride or if he's just the next Jason Kreis. Time to find out.

6) BRAD DAVIS (M) - Davis has seven assists to lead MLS so far this season. Now I'm the first to admit that the assist is kind of a meaningless statistic for the most part (especially in MLS where you can get an assist for tapping the ball to a forward who then runs the length of the field beats 11 guys and scores). But Davis always seems to be in the middle of Houston's scoring opportunities and I believe he's earned a second look. Plus, he's got a pretty good free kick, so we could keep Lando from shanking all of them into row ZZ.

5) GABRIEL FERRARI (F) - "I'm American. I'm born American, grew up in the U.S. and that is the country I would like to play for if I get the chance." Unlike Rossi, Ferrari wants to play here. He's already made four appearances for the U20s and has three goals. He scored against the full Haitian national team in his first appearance. But enough of his wikifacts, no one has really gotten a chance to see if this kid has the goods. Serie A club Sampdoria thought enough of him to bring him over (and then loan him to Perugia). Let's find out.

4) DANNY SZETELA (M) - The U.S. has a lot of depth in the midfield, but Bradley has done little to maintain this advantage by playing the same players in every tournament and friendly (i.e. his son). Szetela should be called in and given a start or two. The kid is extremely talented and he's being wasted. Maybe it's a case of "out of sight, out of mind" since he plays in Italy like Ferrari, but he needs to get back on Bradley's radar. I really think he could end up making the 2010 squad, if not starting next summer.

3) *STUART HOLDEN (M) - Holden is another vastly underrated player with potential to play next summer. He has pace, crosses well and plays smart (unlike many of the current left-sided players we have on the team now). To give Bradley some credit (wow, twice in one article), he called him in prior to the Sweden friendly, but Holden injured his hip. He was named to the Gold Cup roster.

2) MARC BURCH (D) - I personally think that Jonathan Bornstein should get the nod at left back, but if he can't go, Burch (not Beasley for chrissakes!) should be his back-up. Burch, a converted forward, is arguably the best left back in MLS (which is why you haven't heard of him), and he's been DC United's best kept secret for two seasons. Great left foot and he delivers deep crosses as well as any American LB I have ever seen. This is not the first time I've campaigned for him.

1) *ROBBIE ROGERS (M) - Rogers was dropped from the squad for this tournament, but he's back on for the Gold Cup. An outside midfielder with pace that can play either left or right well? He'll be on the 2010 team. It's a no brainer. So, that means even Bradley gets it. Right?

Vacation: All I ever wanted

So, if you're a loyal YH reader, you know that I've been MIA for a while. MLS has started. The U.S. national team played two matches (one terrible, one spectacular -- what a difference a Jozy makes), but I've written little about the goings on. Truth is, life intercedes in all things, even those things that keep us sane and happy and stress-free. I don't mean to be cryptic, but I'll be taking a little vacation from blogging for a while. I hope to return in a couple months refreshed and ready to go. I might even time my comeback with Beckhamdict Arnold's return to MLS. Or maybe not. We'll see. Keep watching and supporting U.S. soccer.

TYH

USA roster for next qualifiers

U.S. nats coach Bob Bradley announces his line up for the matches against El Salvador (March 28) and Trinidad & Tobago (April 1)
GOALKEEPERS: Brad Guzan, Tim Howard, Marcus Hahnemann

Good to see Hahnemann back on the sideline, but barring injury, it's Timmy's gig for the duration of qualification and in 2010. But with Howard out due to suspension against, El Salvador, Guzan will probably get the nod, having played more games recently than Marcus.

DEFENDERS: Carlos Bocanegra, Danny Califf, Jay DeMerit, Frankie Hejduk, Oguchi Onyewu, Heath Pearce, Jonathan Spector

Danny Califf must be sleeping with the right people, and Frankie Hejduk reminds me of that old guy at the gym, you know grandma muscles who runs marathons and squat thrusts Mini Coopers. It's tough to add new names in the middle of qualification, which is why Bradley stinks for failing to try out new blood during meaningless friendlies. Still, one or two new faces would be OK against El Salvador and T&T.

MIDFIELDERS: Freddy Adu, DaMarcus Beasley, Michael Bradley, Maurice Edu, Sacha Kljestan, Pablo Mastroeni, José Francisco Torres

Nice lineup. Really. No complaints. Yah got this one right, Sadley.

FORWARDS: Jozy Altidore, Brian Ching, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Eddie Johnson

Altidore should pull a Cooper and say no thank you unless he can get assurances that he will play before the 80th minute. Eddie Johnson just won't leave this party. Go home, EdJo. I still think there are better choice than Ching. Picks like this is why we have to rely on our midfielders to score.

Sound the bell, they're off

MLS's newest franchise smoked MLS's most disappointing franchise, as the Seattle Sounders defeated the New York Red Bulls by a score of 2-0 in the opening game of the MLS season. It a pretty ugly game, the Sounders pace showed that New York still have not addressed their defensive issues from a year ago. Goals by Colombian new boy Fredy Montero and former Crew striker Brad Evans gave Seattle their first win in their first game. But before Drew Carey starts dreaming too big, they should consider just how poor of a performance New York turned in. Here are the highlights:

The Mike Bradley Show