The 23-Man Roster

Bob Bradley announced the 23-man roster, the final roster, for the World Cup today at 1:20pm. There were not any real surprises for me.

Goalkeeper - Tim Howard, Brad Guzan, Marcus Hahnemann
Defenders - Oguchi Onyewu, Carlos Bocanegra, Jay DeMerit, Jonathan Spector, Steve Cherundolo, Jonathan Bornstein, Clarence Goodson
Midfielders - Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark, Maurice Edu, Stuart Holden, DaMarcus Beasley, Benny Feilhaber, Jose Francisco Torres
Forwards - Jozy Altidore, Edson Buddle, Herculez Gomez, Robbie Findley

I think the only minor upset here was that Robbie Findley made the roster over Brian Ching. Bob Bradley seemed to indicate that Ching didn't make the roster because his hamstring was still bothering him, but I thought he looked extremely solid last night. Findley is still a bit of an unknown quantity and a very different type of striker than Ching. Findley is supposed to be the player with blazing speed who can push the ball forward and cause trouble for back lines. So far, Findley has failed to do that at the international level, but word from camp (via Bocanegra) is that Findley has been the best of the forwards, abusing the US defenders. Personally, I think that says a lot about the slow feet of the US defenders.

I liked every other move that Bob Bradley made, so I was extremely happy with the 23-man roster. There's a lot of versatility among the players selected, but there's also good talent. Every one seems useful in his own way. It will be up to Bob to pick the right matchups against each opponent in order to gain an advantage.

I am guessing the starting lineup against Turkey on Saturday will look like this:
Tim Howard - Goalkeeper
Jonathan Spector - Right Back
Oguchi Onyewu - Center Back
Jay DeMerit - Center Back
Carlos Bocanegra - Left Back
Clint Dempsey - Right Mid
Ricardo Clark - Center Mid
Michael Bradley - Center Mid
Landon Donovan - Left Mid
Jozy Altidore - Forward
Robbie Findley - Forward

I think Coach Bradley has a real love for Rico Clark, hence him being chosen. Ditto Robbie Findley. At any rate, the game against Turkey will be much better than last night's game. Rest assured of that.