CASEY AND DAVIES DON’T MAKE THE CUT, US 30-MAN ROSTER
Bradley released the US’s 30 man roster this afternoon. The big surprise was the omission of Charlie Davies. Rapids fans will also be disappointed to see that Conor Casey is not on the preliminary roster.
Despite reports that Charlie Davies wasn’t far enough along in his rehab to make the World Cup roster, I think everyone still hoped he’d make the cut. The young forward suffered potentially career ending injuries in October but has managed to work his way back at a miraculous pace. Although his recovery is nothing short of amazing, it wasn’t enough to get him on the preliminary roster.
Leaving Davies off the roster was a bold but correct move by Bradley. Davies was a fan favorite, but if he wasn’t ready to play he’d be occupying a spot for someone who is fit and capable of playing.
The omission of Conor Casey is a bit disappointing but understandable. Casey has been involved with the national team for the last two years and scored the goal that gave the US its berth into the World Cup. Unfortunately, his form has escaped him in the last few months.
Throughout the lead up to this announcement, Conor seemed like he didn’t care too much about getting the call up. But this morning it was clear that Conor was disappointed. You could tell by the expression on his face and his avoidance of eye contact, that this omission hurt. Conor is a man of few words and likes to keep to himself. I think it is easy to confuse that with a lack of passion. Conor asked to pass on any interviews this morning and only stated that he was “disappointed” as he walked back to the locker rooms.
Here is the US’s preliminary 30-man roster:
Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, England), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton, England), Tim Howard (Everton, England).
Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes, France), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, Germany), Jay DeMerit (Watford, England), Clarence Goodson (IK Start, Norway), Chad Marshall (Columbus), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan, Italy), Heath Pearce (Dallas), Jonathan Spector (West Ham, England).
Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Alejandro Bedoya (Orebro, Sweden), Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach, Germany), Ricardo Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt, Germany), Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus, Denmark), Stuart Holden (Bolton, England), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Robbie Rogers (Columbus), Jose Torres (Pachuca, Mexico).
Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Hull, England), Edson Buddle (Los Angeles), Brian Ching (Houston), Robbie Findley (Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez (Puebla, Mexico), Eddie Johnson (Aris, Greece).
Share your thoughts on the roster.
May 13th, 2010 at 6:56 am
Some of these I can understand, but I honestly don’t understand the omission of Conor Casey. Nor do I understand the inclusion of Kljestan, Bornstein, and Findley.
Here’s my logic: Casey has been able to perform for country, Findley has not. Findley has barely been able to perform for RSL this season (injury aside), so to me he’s just going to get sent back from camp without providing to terribly much of a challenge to anyone else.
Casey, however, can compete with Ching for the position of target forward. The competition between the two leads to better performances, since neither of them are gaurenteed a spot. If Bradley goes with a target forward option, then he’s going to go with Ching. That’s it.
With no competition comes lackluster performances. If Casey and Ching were competing for the same spot, then we’d see a better performance overall. Findley adds nothing to the roster in terms of competition. We have plenty of people who can fill the speedster role.
While I like Sacha as a player (sometimes) I feel like I like the “idea” of Sacha rather than how he actually is. He hasn’t performed. Period. I feel like he and Bornsten got the call up because Bradley likes them as people. For some reason he keeps calling them up. It’s nebulous. Not Domenech nebulous, or even Maradona nebulous, but still pretty nebulous logic to me.
Like everyone else, I was disappointed but not surprised to see Charlie Davies off the roster. With Casey, I was both shocked and disappointed.