Joe Corona was the lone inclusion that generated a great deal of surprise.
Neil W. Blackmon
Jurgen Klinsmann released his 30 man preliminary roster for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil this afternoon. “Short Corners” style reaction after the roster. Here’s the your team:
Goalkeepers: Tim Howard (Everton FC, England), Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, England), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake, MLS)
Defenders: DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla, Mexico), John Brooks (Hertha Berlin, Germany), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City, England), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City, MLS), Timothy Chandler (Nurnberg, Germany), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders, MLS), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy, MLS), Clarence Goodson (San Jose Earthquakes), Michael Parkhurst (Columbus Crew, MLS), DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle Sounders, MLS)
Midfielders: Michael Bradley (Toronto FC, MLS), Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake, MLS), Alejandro Bedoya (FC Nantes, France), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana, Mexico), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo, MLS), Mix Diskerud (Rosenborg, Norway), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy, MLS), Maurice Edu (Philadelphia Union, MLS), Julian Green (Bayern Munich, Germany), Fabian Johnson (FC Hoffenheim, Germany), Jermaine Jones (Besiktas, Turkey), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City, MLS)
Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Sunderland FC, England), Terrence Boyd (Rapid Vienna, Austria), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders, MLS), Aron Johannsson (AZ Alkmaar, Netherlands), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes, MLS)
That’s your team.
Tim Ream is an odd moment of hypocrisy in Klinsy’s “club form matters” credo…
Short Corners:
1) Jurgen Klinsmann’s “club form matters” credo holds serve– unless you are Tim Ream. The players that raise the most eyebrows: Joe Corona, John Brooks, Tim Chandler- are all playing well at their respective clubs. The most notable omissions: Eddie Johnson (more in two paragraphs), Brek Shea- are not. Enter Tim Ream. He just won Bolton Wanderers’ player of the year award. He’s playing the best soccer of his life. He’s a “flex” defender capable at each spot on a team where Klinsmann has to use depth to his advantage because on pure talent, the well is a bit dry. It’s a really, really surprising omission. The flip side to the argument is raised by Jon Levy: “Ream was never a Klinsmann guy” and didn’t get many looks in the cycle. So maybe we shouldn’t be surprised. Yet we are.
2) Eddie Johnson’s omission is odd only because it is the 30 man roster. I raised the question to our “Roster Roundtable” about Johnson’s future and chances to make the 23 and results were mixed. I only point this out to illustrate it wouldn’t have been shocking if Johnson missed out on the team. Doug McIntyre wrote today that the decision on Johnson, who has yet to score for DC United this year, was difficult for Klinsmann, but not particularly shocking. And as Zack Goldman pointed out here in the above-linked “Roster Roundtable”- the issue with EJ isn’t so much that he can’t score and doesn’t bring a ton to the table– it’s that he isn’t really a striker who helps keep Clint Dempsey involved in proceedings (See, Obafemi Martins, Bobby Zamora) and he isn’t really a blanket fill-in for Altidore. Klinsmann’s omission of Johnson is, at base, more evidence he will move forward with his preferred one striker set up with Dempsey somewhere in the hole.
Shea’s omission means the Gold Cup winning goal scorer, and the qualifying winning goal scorer are omitted. That’s a US First.
3) Brek Shea’s omission is actually more surprising than Johnson. As Jon Levy pointed out in the roundtable and reiterated on Twitter today– Shea has been abjectly bad at times in a US Shirt but has been splendid as a substitute at others. He changed a Gold Cup final, scoring a match winning goal, and has had influential moments with a left foot (something the US has a shortage of) in other high-level matches. A 30 man nod would have seemed reasonable, even if he wasn’t on the plane. And if you are into truly bizarre statistics: Shea’s omission, along with Eddie Johnson’s, means for the first time in the history of the US Soccer Federation, the players that scored the qualifying-clincher goal and the Gold Cup clincher goal are omitted. Very odd.
4) Now that Timmy Chandler is in camp, I think he’ll make the team. That said, the RB battle is five-deep! This speaks to two things: 1) Klinsmann probably won’t use the same guy at RB in this group, which makes sense, given the diametrically different attacking styles of each team in the group, and 2) Omar Gonzalez’ knee is probably a concern, meaning Geoff Cameron (finally, wink wink) will get a big and long look at CB. Chandler will have every chance to make this team and probably will, if he can reintegrate himself with this team from a chemistry perspective. History says that matters– see, 1998, last place– and the optics say Chandler has work to do: he played terribly in his one official match with the US and then said he “needed a break.” Some teammates will (rightly) remain cynical.
5) Julian Green or not Julian Green- that is (another) question. It’s hard to imagine chemistry issues mattering as much with Julian Green, especially since most accounts suggest Eddie Johnson wasn’t “teammate #1” in the locker room, and Johnson is one of the guys missing while Green is here. Still, when you are young, have only one cap, and didn’t decide to play for a country until two months before the tournament, there will likely be some cynics. By all accounts, Green is a sweetheart of a kid. He’s also an immense talent who might be able to help the US win a game. That’s why he’s in camp. Hopefully folks respect that.
The comments, as always, are yours.
Neil W. Blackmon is co-Founder and co-Editor of The Yanks Are Coming. He can be reached at nwblackmon@gmail.com and you can follow him on Twitter at @nwb_usmnt.