US roster for Sunday's 2010 World Cup Qualifier named

US vs. Barbados
Sunday 5pET/2pPT
Home Depot Center, Carson, Ca.
Tickets (Great for Father's Day)

Bob Bradley released his 21-man roster for this Sunday's World Cup Qualifier against Barbados. There are no huge surprises, as just about everyone on the list saw minutes during warm up games. The one major exception, the Houston Dynamo's Brian Ching.

Ching was named to the preliminary roster for the three friendly matches the US played over the last couple weeks, but he did not make the final cut. Oddly enough, during this same time Ching came into his own in MLS play earning 3 goals and two assists over his last three matches. The addition of Ching gives the US a greater threat in the air and an alternative on set pieces to Onyewu.

A name not on the forward list is Nate Jaqua. I don't think he is injured so I'm a little surprise that with all the US's problems in attack, he was not given more of a chance in the warm up games as he had a great year with both Houston and Austrian side Altach. Perhaps he is trying out for club teams or maybe Bradley didn't like what he saw in camp.

Jozy Altidore is also not on the list, but this is nowhere near a surprise. With his move to Spain in the final stages and his likely call up for the Olympic team looming, Bradley doesn't want to hinder the relationship with Villarreal.

One name that is pleasing to see is Frankie Hejduk. He is a workhorse who can bring some needed experience to the squad during these early qualifiers.

Here is the full roster:

GK (3): Dominic Cervi, Brad Guzan, Tim Howard

D (7): Carlos Bocanegra, Dan Califf, Steve Cherundolo, Jay DeMerit, Frankie Hejduk, Oguchi Onyewu, Heath Pearce

M (7): Freddy Adu, DaMarcus Beasley, Michael Bradley, Maurice Edu, Sacha
Kljestan, Eddie Lewis, Pablo Mastroeni

F (4): Brian Ching, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Eddie Johnson

My guess for Bradley's starting lineup is very similar to what he put out during the Argentina match, except Bocanegra will replace Califf. The position that I could see changing is Edu in for Mastroeni.

---------------------Howard-------------------

Cherundolo--Bocanegra--Onyewu--Pearce

-Dempsey--Bradley--Mastroeni--Beasley-

-----------Johnson------Donovan------------

US roster for Argentina

US vs. Argentina
Sunday, 7:30pm ET/4:30pm PT
TV: ESPN Classic and Galavision

Bob Bradley has released his list of 19 for Sunday's friendly against Argentina and there are a couple surprises.

Carlos Bocanegra is not on it, meaning Jay DeMerit or Dan Califf is going to get a good look over. Also missing is Jozy Altidore, Nate Jaqua, Josh Wolff and just about every other MLS player that might have been called in as a forward.

One MLSer that is back on the list is Landon Donovan so he might get his 100th cap against the number one in the world. Also, Sacha Kljestan has made the final roster.

Overall, it is good, but it will take more then good to handle Argentina (see Mexico's result).

Here is the full roster:

Goalkeepers: Dominic Cervi (no team), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Tim Howard (Everton)

Defenders: Dan Califf (Midtjylland), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Jay DeMerit (Watford), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock)

Midfielders: Freddy Adu (Benfica), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), Michael Bradley (Heerenveen), Maurice Edu (Toronto), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Eddie Lewis (Derby), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado)

Forwards: Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles), Eddie Johnson (Fulham)

Spanish club Villareal close to deal for Altidore

Spanish side Villareal and MLS have reached an initial agreement on Jozy Altidore. The transfer fee amount is unknown at this point, but MLS had been seeking $10m for the teenager.

If Jozy moves to Villareal, he will join a club that finished second in La Liga last season, thus has a guaranteed ticket into the Champions League group stage. That is good news and it gets even better as the club is in a bit of a need for offensive talent having scored the fewest number of goals of any club in Spain's top 5.

Jozy's Haitian heritage might also end up playing a role in his move since Spain has very tight restrictions on non-EU players. As an American, he would count against their non-EU limit, however since Haiti has signed the Cotonou Agreement, he might be able to use dual-citizenship to get around the rule.

All and all, this could be the perfect fit for Altidore.

By the way, New Jersey born Giuseppe Rossi also plays for the Yellow Submarine that is Villareal. Rossi is the striker who rejected Bruce Arena's invited into the US camp ahead of 2006. Rossi instead hopes to be part of Italy's senior squad at some point. Maybe Jozy could convince him to get America instead.

Bradley names 22-man roster for England match

US vs. England
May 38 - 3p ET/12p PT
TV: ESPN Classic, Galavision (tape delayed till 7p ET)

US Men's National team coach Bob Bradley has narrowed his roster down to 22 players with just one week to go till they clash with England at Wembley Stadium. As expected, the list is made up mostly of European based players.

Here is the full list:

Goalkeepers (3): Dominic Cervi (Out of Contract), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Tim Howard (Everton FC)

Defenders (8): Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham FC), Dan Califf (FC Midtjylland), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)

Midfielders (6): Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Eddie Lewis (Derby County).

Forwards (5): Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Nate Jaqua (out of contract), Eddie Johnson (Fulham FC), Josh Wolff (out of contract)

Guzan, Clark and Donovan are the only MLS based players to earn a call up.

The obvious name absent from this list is Jozy Altidore. As much as I would love to see Jozy on the pitch for England and Spain, with the Olympics and World Cup Qualifiers coming up, Bradley is probably wants to limit the time he is away from the Red Bulls. Also, if Jozy is suffering from fatigue as Juan Carlos Osorio suggested a few weeks ago, giving him a break now will make things easier later this summer and into next year (especially is he does end up moving to Europe).

That said, there is a strong argument to be made for Jozy playing in England and Spain instead of some of the World Cup Qualifiers as these two games plus Argentina are more likely to reflect what the US will face in 2010 then games this fall.

The name that sticks out the most from this list is Michael Orozco from Mexico's San Luis. He has quickly becoming a challenger for one of the center back positions, but with Onyewu coming off a solid season, Bocanegra is most likely to lose his spot.

I've noticed that some people are surprised by Nate Jaqua's call up but I don't see why. In his 10 games with Altach, he netted five goals and was one of the main reasons the team was not relegated. It is true that Austria is not be a big league but results like that deserve some recognition (not to mention what he did with Houston last year). Add to it the lack of offensive depth for the US men and Bradley's choice makes sense.

As far as surprises, there are not many, but Eddie Lewis is the biggest (and it is not that big). Although he has little chance of being in the mix come 2010, I'm guessing Bradley selected him to bring some experience to the team. Also, if he took Maurice Edu or Sacha Kljestan away from their teams while leaving Jozy with New York, it would have looked a little off.

All and all, this is a pretty A-list roster for the US.

Here is my guess at the starting lineup:

-----------------Howard-----------------

Cherundolo---Gooch----Boca---Pearce

--Donovan---Bradley-Clark--Beasley--

----------Johnson----Dempsey----------

Of all of these, Beasley is the one I'm least sure about due to his recent return from injury. If Beasley doesn't get the start, my guess is Wolff will take it.

Olympic Qualifying - US men win their group, look better but still have issues

US 1-0 Honduras

First the good news, the US U23 men were able to bounce back from a dreadful opening match to win their group. In the process players such as Holden, Edu, Kljestan, Orozco, McCarty stood up and showed what they have in them. Although they did not dominate their final two matches, they did control them. However, that leads to the bad thing.

During their 3 group matches, the team had 18 shots on goal and only managed to net 3. Although this doesn't sound that bad, one must remember that 2 of the goals were from penalty kicks. So 1 goal from 16 shots on frame. Even worse is the number of times the team created dangerous situations in front of goal but never got off a shot.

This is an issue that is common across all ages of US soccer. How many times have we seen the national team dominate one of the 'lesser' teams in the confederation only to sneak out with a 1-0 win or a tie (normally thanks to a penalty kick)?

With much of Concacaf playing a pack the back style of game against the US, the solution is having someone that is willing to take the shot. Freddy Adu still has a lot of growth ahead of him, but he already understands the idea of taking the shot. Clint Dempsey gets it and Jozy Altidore seems to have it in him as well, but too many others are not there yet.

But I don't want this post to be all negative, because the team really has looked good the last two games. Yes, they are still giving the ball away too much and there needs to be better communication in front of goal, but compared to were the team was at Tuesday night, things are much better.

Now the question is who will they play next Thursday night. Will Mexico find a way to limp out of their group and setup a 2004 semifinal rematch or will Canada give us another addition of the growing northern neighbor rivalry or will Haiti get at least a point and bring their rough style of soccer to the red, white and blue? Of these three, I think Mexico has looked the worse while Haiti has impressed the most.

Whomever it is, Peter Nowak should have a great understanding of what he can put on the pitch. With the semifinal being the biggest game of the whole tournament (the two winners go to the Olympics), it will be the A-team. Altidore, Adu, Holden, Edu, Orozco, McCarty, Wynne and Seitz plus three more should get ready for the start.

Jozy Altidore - Loving all the soccer

Jozy Altidore blogs about his experiences over the last few weeks, including the training camp and his time on the pitch during the Sweden match and his hectic schedule. To sum it up quickly, he loves it.

"All soccer, all the time. And some people may say that it’s too much, but I like to be part of it even more. I’m getting a lot of experience early and having a great time. I have no complaints."

Sounds like he is happy. So what about his thoughts on his play last Saturday?

As a substitute for the second half Coach Bob Bradley told me to go into the game, help on defense when I have to and do what the game dictates. You just can’t go out there and do what you want. You need to work within the aspects of the game, Bob just told me to be smart about it.

I thought that one of my better attributes is my speed. I might not be the fastest, but I think I’m O.K. and I think I gave them a different look, a little more pace than the other forwards they’d seen in the game. In the first half, we gave them guys up front with a little different technique. Then we switched up nice.

Pretty much sums up what he did. He goes on to talk about the way he forced the defense to take him down and get the foul, which shows how smart he plays.

Altidore's experience is sort of the antithesis of Freddy Adu's. Both were very young when the entered the league and both are very talented, but MLS treated them very differently. Adu was the poster boy and billed as the second coming of Pele while Altidore wasn't even pushed as the face of the team from New York. This has obviously allowed Altidore more room to grow on his own and develop into a wonderful player while Adu seemed confined by it.

I do really hope that the way the league is handling Altidore is the result of the Adu situation as it will show they learned a very important lesson and one that will only help the next crop of youngsters coming onto the stage.

Freddy Adu on MLS - "I hope they don't do to Jozy (Altidore) what they did to me"

Freddy Adu opens up on his transfer to Benfica, his time in MLS and his own play in a new SI piece out today. Although there are a number of interesting questions in the piece, the part that I'm sure is going to attack the most attention is his take on MLS and their treatment of him.

When asked about how the league created the idea of Adu as savior of American soccer, he says:

I had to be the bad guy after a few years and say: "I'm not doing this appearance. I'm not flying here to sign autographs. I don't want to do it. I have to concentrate on my play. Do you want me to produce on the field or do you just care about what I'm doing off the field?"

And the league understood and was great enough to let me cut back, and from then on the focus has been on getting back to where I used to be. And right now, I can honestly tell you, I am exactly where I want to be.

He is then asked if he was jealous of the way New York's Jozy Altidore became the new young face this past year:

No jealousy at all. What goes through my mind is: "I hope they don't do to Jozy what they did to me" -- with all the hype and everything.

Always interesting to see what the person in the middle thinks of everything going on around him.