Clint Dempsey heads the US Gold Cup roster.
Neil W. Blackmon
First, Here is your 23 man US roster for the Gold Cup.
GOALKEEPERS (3) : Brad Guzan (Aston Villa/2007), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake/2011, 2013), William Yarbrough (Club Leon)
DEFENDERS (7) : Ventura Alvarado (Club America), John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Timmy Chandler (Eintracht Frankfurt), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC/2009), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy/2013), Fabian Johnson (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Tim Ream (Bolton Wanderers/2011)
MIDFIELDERS (9) : Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake/2009, 2013), Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes/2011, 2013), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC/2007, 2011), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo/2005), Mix Diskerud (New York City FC/2013), Alfredo Morales (Ingolstadt), DeAndre Yedlin (Tottenham Hotspur), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)
FORWARDS (4) : Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC/2011), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC/2005, 2007, 2011), Aron Johannsson (AZ Alkmaar), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes/2011, 2013)
Michael Bradley anchors a stacked midfield.
And here are some TYAC thoughts on that roster:
Jurgen Klinsmann is done experimenting and has returned to a veteran corps now that the games “matter.”
How else to explain the inclusion of the likes of Graham Zusi, who hasn’t seen US action since the World Cup? Ditto Brad Davis. How else explain the exclusion of Brek Shea, who despite this weekend’s horrors in Montreal has found his footing and revived his career with Orlando City, played fairly well in several US LB auditions and yet isn’t included in this team? Ditto the exclusion Jordan Morris, whose play has been one of the brighter spots of 2015 for the US Men’s National Team?
The lights get turned on for the USA Gold Cup effort on July 7th and when they are turned on, it is evident Jurgen Klinsmann trusts a certain corps of players more than the experimental groups he brought to Europe to slay strong incarnations of Germany and Holland.
Jurgen has signaled with this roster selection that he intends to win this tournament and avoid a playoff to determine who the CONCACAF representative is at the 2017 Confederations Cup. The US was able to go to South Africa a year early, adjust to the crowds (vuvezelas), play elite teams in meaningful matches, grow accustom to training grounds and gain invaluable experience. Klinsmann wants that for his 2018 group.
“The Gold Cup really is about getting the job done and winning it and qualifying us for the Confederations Cup in Russia in 2017,” Klinsmann said in an interview with ussoccer.com. “That’s why it’s really crucial for us to have players on the roster that have tremendous experience.”
The worst the US can do is a playoff for the Confederations Cup, a tournament that to a man American players will tell you helped ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, where the US won its group under Bob Bradley.
“Our approach for putting together the roster for this summer’s Gold Cup, which is very, very important to us, is obviously to do everything possible to win this competition,” Klinsmann told US Soccer. “Winning it would qualify us for the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia, so putting the pieces together is very crucial. That’s why we came out with a roster full of quality, but also a lot of experience; players that are used to playing in the CONCACAF region and also younger players that came through the ranks over the last year that made a stamp on the senior National Team program.”
Timothy Chandler made the team despite being shredded by Roger Espinoza the last time he played Honduras.
Panic is part of Soccer Twitter. But while you parse through the shade, remember the rules of the tournament dictate that Jurgen Klinsmann and the US coaching staff can replace up to six players when the knockout stages arrive.
The backlash to this roster was immediate. Whither Matt Besler? Paging Greg Garza, darling of the autumn friendlies after the World Cup? Where was Brek Shea? Where was Jordan Morris? Why Timothy Chandler? Brad Davis? No, really. Brad Davis? Alfredo Morales again? That guy that missed against Belgium?
In the land of the hot take, the man or woman with the most fireball emojis applying to his 140 or less is king or queen, so it is tough to package reason and deep thought. That’s a shame, because it is important to remember this group of 23 is only required to qualify for knockout rounds in a group that contains Honduras, Haiti and Panama sans the Dely Valdés brothers, which hasn’t really been much of a Panama at all.
Don’t be surprised if the US knockout round roster includes Greg Garza, Brek Shea, Jordan Morris, longtime CB starter Matt Besler and perhaps even retired-now-unretired-now-only-Jurgen-knows-but-not-called LB/MF/WF DaMarcus Beasley. And even exchanging four of those players for say, Morales, Davis, Ream and Wondolowski would leave room for two other changes.
That’s plenty of room for wiggle room if a fire extinguisher is needed to deal with hot takes.
Brad Davis and Timothy Chandler are plain-old head scratchers.
Timothy Chandler has rarely played well in a US shirt and while he did play well in spots in the historic victories at Holland and Germany, he also was victimized multiple times by class players and had more moments where he looked lost and a step behind. Yes, Chandler can play on the right too so he gives Klinsmann an inverted option, but unless the US plan is to start Fabian Johnson at left back, it would seem Chandler is Klinsmann’s starter.
The US play Honduras first, which incidentally was the opponent the last time Timothy Chandler started a meaningful match for the United States. The returns were dismal, as Chandler was skinned and given an education by Catrachos midfielder Roger Espinoza throughout an evening that ended in an American loss, that Brian Straus referendum piece on Klinsmann as US manager and utter chaos within the US camp.
Needless to say, it is odd that in a match that likely will decide the winner of the US Gold Cup group, Klinsmann would select a roster that almost forces him to play a player who was so unequipped to play against the same opponent the last time.
And that’s not even the strangest roster choice.
That would be Brad Davis.
The Brad Davis call-up makes less sense to me than Wondo. Davis’ immobility is seriously cutting into his ability to find crossing space.
— Will Parchman (@WillParchman) June 23, 2015
Klinsmann repeatedly has said club form is a point of emphasis in his roster selections. He must not watch must MLS.
Davis has played poorly this year for the Dynamo, and at 33 is becoming a shell of the player he once was. His ability to fire in crosses and take set pieces earned him a spot (and a start) on the World Cup team last summer, but he hasn’t been involved in US proceedings since Brazil and it seems extremely strange he’d be roped in now, particularly in a group with three teams who want to absorb pressure and wait for chances to pick you apart on the break. Davis doesn’t have the footspeed to play that game internationally, which significantly limits when Klinsmann can deploy him next month. Brek Shea has played left back for Klinsmann but has been forced into wing duty due to the needs of his club at Orlando City. He’d be a better choice here, bad fundamentals and all.
Gold Cup rules may see Jordan Morris join the side for the knockout rounds.
The kids are alright. They’re just finding club time.
Bobby Wood, who had a fan club of three US Soccer writers before beating Holland and Germany last month, isn’t here because Jurgen Klinsmann felt it was critical he stabilize his club situation. Oddly, it appears Klinsmann has his hands all over Wood’s club situation, with reports suggesting he warned potential suitor Vfb Stuttgart off the player and a potential move last week. Wood’s parent club, 1860 Munich, hasn’t indicated whether another loan is in the offing for the Hawaiian over the next year, and Klinsmann has suggested Wood’s fight for club playing time should be prioritized over a Gold Cup in the short term.
Julian Green is in a similar spot, being urged by Klinsmann to train hard and well with Bayern Munich to set up a loan situation more favorable than the one we witnessed last year after the World Cup. Emerson Hyndman and Gedion Zelalem are either too young or were considered too far down the current pecking order for Gold Cup calls.
Bill Hamid gets more out of playing matches with DC United in front of different European scouts every week than he does being the third-string goalkeeper at a Gold Cup. Perry Kitchen also isn’t going to displace Kyle Beckerman anytime soon, and may as well play and get better at his club than sit on the bench as the last US midfielder in the team.
That leaves 35 man provisional roster player Jordan Morris. Morris has been a huge bright spot for the US in 2015, and his exclusion, while surprising, could simply be about rest: Morris just spent a month overseas at the Toulon Tournament and playing the European friendlies and could return to the US fresh for the knockout stages, a stage he’d likely prefer to preseason training with Stanford.
This is a stacked US midfield.
Jurgen Klinsmann’s biggest challenge in the center of the pitch will be wading through the possible permutations at his disposal and finding the winning grouping.
Michael Bradley, coming off dizzying performances in Europe, could pair with any number of players in front of Kyle Beckerman. That leaves a host of spots, and in Graham Zusi, Alejandro Bedoya, Alfredo Morales, Mix Diskerud and Gyasi Zardes, Klinsmann has excellent choices across the board.
The thinking here is that if fit, Bedoya will start opposite Zardes, but against three teams that all want to absorb pressure and counter, Klinsmann won’t have to settle on one combo in the group stages, and can afford to go with the hot hand.
Wondolowski deserved to make this team.
Finally, once again, a decision Jurgen Klinsmann made about a prolific MLS goalscorer generated the most controversy.
Last summer Landon Donovan, not in.
This summer, Chris Wondolowski. Or as hot takes have dubbed him: the guy that missed against Belgium. Forget life after the miss. There is only the miss.
National team roster choices make for bizarro Soccer Twitter, where you have all manner of voices popping in and out. Sometimes you have comedy shrouded as criticism that really is lunacy, like this:
https://twitter.com/edsbs/status/613432759609004032
Other times, you have those who typically spend time on other sports but dabble in a bit of patriotic football now and then offer reasonably well-informed takes.
https://twitter.com/georgedohrmann/status/613439936084094976
I don’t think you get ready for Russia three years before Russia, and by and large think that World Cup cycles happen in segments, where the end goal remains a World Cup but short-term goals receive priority. For the US, short-term goals involve winning the Gold Cup and qualifying for the 2017 Confederations Cup without a playoff, avoiding World Cup qualification catastrophe this autumn, and preparing the best possible team for the centennial Copa America next summer. To that end, I’ve argued selecting a team about Russia 2018 for this Gold Cup compromises the integrity of those short-term goals. Pick the team that helps you win the goal or match or competition currently in front of your face.
Do that, and Chris Wondolowski belongs on this team. Let’s review the Klinsmann checklist, shall we?
Ability to score goals, because this is, you know, a forward roster spot? Check. Wondolowski may have naked photos of everyone. But he also has more goals against MLS goalkeepers (101 that count) than anyone active on the continent. So he can score goals.
Experience and success against this level of competition? Well, yes. Wondolowski is one of three American players with a hat trick in Gold Cup competition. The others? Brian McBride and Landon Donovan.
Good club form? Check. (It’s actually splendid right now).
Outstanding veteran presence? Check. (Though this is a bit less crucial on this roster than others, given how veteran-heavy Klinsmann went).
Smart? Check in spades.
Johan Cruyff famously spoke about how soccer minds can best be identified by what a player does off the ball, in the “other 87 minutes” of a game when they aren’t in possession themselves. Wondolowski is a master of space and angles and understanding movement in the “other 87.” It’s the movement that had him in position to send the US to the quarterfinals in Brazil and it is the movement that has earned him 101 MLS goals. And it is that ability and understanding of soccer that has his manager, one of the best strikers of his generation, putting him on another US team headed to a competition.
As ever, comments encouraged.
Neil W. Blackmon is Co-Founder of The Yanks Are Coming. He can be reached at nwblackmon@gmail.com and you can follow him on Twitter at @nwblackmon.