U.S. coach Bob Bradley threw a couple of surprises in today when he announced his 23-man squad for the upcoming Gold Cup.
I expected to see Timmy Chandler, Teal Bunbury or Alejandro Bedoya in the squad and an a little surprised that they were not included. Brad Guzan was an expected miss as he is getting married this summer
When asked about Chandler and Bunbry in this afternoon’s press conference, Bradley said:
“Bunbury? See his potential, didn’t think it was right time for him. Not as sharp as we’d like this season.” Bradley on Chandler: “He told us physically and mentally this season has been a long one … Time wasn’t right for this Gold Cup.”
A couple of surprise inclusions were Adu, Rogers and Wondolowski. On Adu, Bradley said
“We have followed Freddy since he transferred. We’ve watching him a number of times on the computer. Haven’t managed to get there. “There are good signs. Freddy is a player who in the past has shown soccer qualities that can help our team. This seems like a good opportunity to get him back in with National team as he continues to grow and mature.”
Here is the squad:
GOALKEEPERS-Tim Howard, Nick Rimando, Marcus Hahnemann
DEFENDERS- Jonathan Spector, Carlos Bocanegra, Steve Cherundolo, Oguchi Onyewu, Eric Lichaj, Tim Ream, Jonathan Bornstein, Clarence Goodson,
MIDFIELDERS- Michael Bradley, Maurice Edu, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Sacha Kljestan, Robbie Rogers, Freddy Adu, Benny Feilhaber, Jermaine Jones
FORWARDS- Juan Agudelo, Chris Wondolowski, Jozy Altidore
My guess on US starting XIv Spain on June 4 is: Howard; Cherundolo, Ream, Bocanegra, Bornstein; Donovan, Bradley, Jones, Dempsey; Altidore, Agudelo.
What do you think of the U.S. squad?
photo credit: Beverly & Pack