In this monthly segment, we attempt to answer the question, “Who should we take to South Africa?” Rather than taking the standard approach (doing our best to guess who Bob will take to South Africa), we focus on who we think Bradley should take.
This month’s edition of Bradley’s Babes is coming out a little late because we wanted to wait for the month’s lone friendly before we made our selections. Unfortunately, the Honduras game did little to clarify the situation and instead, only made the whole process muddier. Players who were moving closer and closer to the “lock” category–Chad Marshall and Jimmy Conrad, in particular–only hurt their causes. Meanwhile, Clint Dempsey’s injury scare made the forward situation look even bleaker for a while. Just to keep ourselves from suffering from a crippling bout of depression, we’ve made the decision to stop excluding our injured contingent–it’s looking more and more like they’ll all be recovering ahead of schedule (Jermaine Jones excluded), so it’s time to bring them back into the mix. Here it is–your January edition of Bradley’s Babes:
GOALKEEPERS
Tim Howard – Lock.
Brad Guzan – No shame in backing up Brad Friedel.
Marcus Hahnemann – Still starting. His recent clean sheet against Liverpool only strengthens his resume. If he’s willing to come along as a #3, we’d love to have him.
FRINGE – Kasey Keller, Troy Perkins. Once again, if something horrible happened to Tim Howard (and given our recent run of long-term injuries, I’m not comfortable ignoring this possibility), it might be worth asking Keller to start. It’s a close call. Perkins let in three against Honduras, but it wasn’t really his fault. I still wouldn’t be comfortable with him ever playing in the World Cup, but where do we go after Hahnemann?
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DEFENDERS
Oguchi Onyewu – It’s good to have you back on the list, Gooch. Sounds like he’ll be fit in plenty of time.
Carlos Bocanegra – Seems to have regained his starting role at Rennes, not that we’d be leaving him out even if he didn’t.
Jonathan Spector – He’s getting starts for West Ham at left back. Can we stop with this “it’s his third-best position” argument already?
Jay DeMerit – Not that the Watford defense is a particularly hard nut to crack, but he’s been able to hold down his starting spot even after his lengthy absense–I’m now willing to call him a lock.
Steve Cherundolo – So, if you have Cherundolo, DeMerit, Spector, and Bocanegra all starting for club, and Onyewu at full health, who do you leave off the field? It’s a good problem to have, but a tough one to solve.
Clarence Goodson – Amazingly, in a 3-1 loss at home to a Honduras B-Team, Goodson saw his stock rise. Solid defender, and apparently a threat in the air.
Edgar Castillo – It’s tough to bring along a guy who we haven’t seen much of, but what other true left backs can we bring?
Chad Marshall – His performance against Honduras definitely did not help his cause. He is hanging on by a thread.
FRINGE - Jimmy Conrad. With Spector and Bocanegra healthy and starting, and Castillo in the mix, I can no longer keep Bornstein and Pearce on my fringe list. Maybe if Pearce shows well in the start of the MLS season or Bornstein proves he can use his right foot, I’d consider taking one of them. Jimmy Conrad really hurt his chances with his early red card against Honduras. It’s not over for him, but if he gets any more opportunities, he needs to show very well to get his spot back.
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MIDFIELDERS
Landon Donovan – Just scored his first goal in England. Well done, Landon!
Clint Dempsey – His injury scare had the US soccer community holding its breath for 48 hours after he limped off the field. Thankfully, it wasn’t as bad as his coach thought it might be. I guess Bob Bradley was right when he said doctors–not coaches–should be the ones commenting on injuries.
Michael Bradley – Still holding down a starting spot with Monchengladbach–helping them stay out of the relegation zone.
Jose Francisco Torres – Might be #1 on my list of things I’d like to see more of in 2010.
Benny Feilhaber – Pretty much the only starter that looked okay against Honduras.
Stuart Holden – His inclusion in this squad is largely dependent on whether or not he can crack the Bolton lineup. I’m thinking he’ll do it, but things should be a lot clearer by the February edition of Bradley’s Babes.
DaMarcus Beasley - Things were going so well until he suffered yet another injury. I’m starting to wonder if he can hold up through the end of the season, let alone the World Cup.
Maurice Edu – Just as soon as he regains his starting place, he suffers another injury (although this one seems minor). Let’s hope he can hold up, because he’s got an outside chance to start in South Africa.
Robbie Rogers – Didn’t do much to help his case against Honduras. He’ll need to show something (soon) if he wants to stay in the squad.
FRINGE – Ricardo Clark. We can no longer keep Jermaine Jones on this list. His injury situation is such a mess that we can no longer justify keeping him around. We’re hoping for the best, but his chances aren’t looking too good. Ricardo Clark could easily sneak into this squad, especially with Jones out of the picture, but he needs to make something happen in the coming months on the club level.
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FORWARDS
Jozy Altidore - Our forward crop is so thin, there’s no question here.
Charlie Davies – Welcome back to the squad, Charlie! He’s already jogging and expected to be playing by April. Simply amazing. Can’t wait to have him back and playing again.
Robbie Findley – He needs to show more in the coming months, but we’re willing to leave him up for one more round.
FRINGE – Conor Casey, Brian Ching, Kenny Cooper, Jeff Cunningham, Eddie Johnson. The only reason Casey and Ching are included is because of their unique skill-set. Cooper was saved by the rumors of his move to Plymouth Argyle. EJ was saved by his move to Greece, although we’re still waiting to see how this move pans out. Cunningham is probably next in line at the moment, but I’m not comfortable throwing him in yet (not that I’m particularly comforable throwing in Findley, either). It should be noted that if one of these guys steps up and Findley holds down his spot, Robbie Rogers would be the most likely to suffer–keep in mind we’re still keeping an extra midfielder in this roster because of Dempsey and Donovan’s adaptability.
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Now that we’ve set our roster, let’s take a look at our prefered line-up:
————————Jozy Altidore———-Charlie Davies——————
Landon Donovan————————______————Clint Dempsey
————————————Benny Feilhaber——————————-
————————————Michael Bradley——————————–
Jonathan Spector——————————————Steve Cherundolo
——————–Carlos Bocanegra——–Oguchi Onyewu——————–
—————————————-Tim Howard———————————
Players currently challenging for starting spots: Maurice Edu, DaMarcus Beasley, Stuart Holden, and Jay DeMerit. Edu, Beasley, and Holden are all in contention for Feilhaber’s spot, at the moment. No–not all of them play in the center, but Donovan and Dempsey can both be shifted to make room for any of these three. Who’s on the chopping block on the back line? I’d say Cherundolo and Bocanegra. It’s time to admit that Carlos hasn’t looked so dominant over the past year that he is a lock as a starter. Cherundolo is in the same boat.
