The US Mens’ Team: Who Should Stay & Who Should Go

Ugh, I just realized I made a Clash reference. Oh well. I always liked Train In Vain much better than Should I Stay Or Should I Go?  Anyway, it was an unintended Clash reference & has thus clashed with the original intention of the post.  Oh great, now I made a Clash pun…. let’s move on before I go mental…

So, following the US’ 2 friendly matches against Argentina & Paraguay, I’ve come up with a list of players that I think merit more looks & a list of players that should be thrown into the abyss of national team selection as in never being selected again.

Players that deserve more of a look
Juan Agudelo, FW; obviously Agudelo would get more of a look in the future just b/c he’s only 18 years of age but he’s thrust himself into the immediate national team spotlight b/c he’s scored 2 goals in his 1st 4 appearances & despite not scoring against Paraguay in his last match, looked lively & dangerous & unlike many US players current & past looks composed on the ball & doesn’t shy away from the ball.

Jozy Altidore, FW; I know Jozy has his detractors & I admit I am a Jozy backer but Altidore’s physical presence & athleticism alone merits him further looks before we even get to the simple fact that the USA’s forward pool is pretty shallow.  While much is made of Jozy’s lack of scoring at club level, his international goal haul is pretty decent.

The current USMNT cycle toward the Gold Cup will likely be the last hurrahs for the likes of Edson Buddle, Hercules Gomez, Robbie Findley & Chris Wondolowski as they are all in their late 20s and/or have shown they don’t have the chops to cut it at international level.  Buddle is arguably the best of this group over Gomez but he’ll likely not be in contention much further beyond the Gold Cup.  Teal Bunbury is another young forward you can add to the pool that will get much more of an opportunity in future US matches over this group.  Wayward Freddy Adu & Charlie Davies will probably get every opportunity to play themselves back in contention b/c the lack of forward depth & especially the lack of quality depth at forward.

Timothy Chandler, DF; Juan Agudelo scored the lone American goal in this past week’s friendlies but it was TImothy Chandler who was arguably the US’ best player this weekend outside of Tim Howard’s goalkeeping perfomance against Argentina.  Chandler showed terrific crossing & runs forward but unlike a lot of young fullbacks did so while not getting caught out defensively. 

Mikkel Diskerud, MF; “Mix” didn’t play in the friendlies this past week but in his 2 appearances with the USMNT he’s shown a potential for some nifty passing in & around the box.  He got an assist on Juan Agudelo’s goal on his & the striker’s debut with a nifty little flicked pass inside the box.  With that kind of creativity & improvisation around the area, he definitely needs to get more chances to see what he can do.

Eric Lichaj, DF; I’m a huge fan of Lichaj, but I admit he’s way more potential than finished product right now.  But he looks to a have a load of potential to be a decent offensive fullback as he shows speed & strength, good crossing & passing & he has a pretty good long throw on him too.  He does have a propensity to get caught forward at times but I’m putting that down to his inexperience.  He & Chandler should be the future of the right fullback position following Steven Cherundolo’s inevitable retirement.

Heath Pearce- DF; While Pearce wasn’t in the team selected for last week’s friendlies, he perhaps deserves another look at left fullback only because Jonathan Bornstein is so poor (see below).  Our left fullback pool may be actually shallower than the forward one if that’s possible.  For now, Carlos Bocanegra should be the left fullback b/c he’s the only one who is worth a damn at the moment but perhaps Pearce should be given one last look before we decide to can left fullback altogether & go to a 3-5-2! J/k.

Tim Ream, DF; Ream is clearly the best passing central defender the US has & he’s only just made his debut recently.  Our CDs in the past have been classic stopper types- decent defenders, good in the air & useful on set pieces but fairly useless with the ball & generally lack any sort of real passing range other than the hopeful punt/clearance forward.  Ream is both athletic & has good passing for a central defender.

Meanwhile, our midfield is pretty stacked both with wide players (DaMarcus Beasley, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Stuart Holden [though Holden can play both wide & in the middle]) & especially, central players (Michael Bradley, Mikkel Diskerud, Maurice Edu, Benny Feilhaber, Jermaine Jones, etc.).  So, unless some true gems come along our midfield picture is pretty set for awhile.

Goalkeeper is also set with Tim Howard & Brad Guzan as the firm #1 & #2.  So, you can pencil in whomever you like at GK #3 b/c with our top 2 GKs we can afford the luxury of experimenting with whomever comes along for that 3rd spot.

Players that need to be dropped off in the Mojave with a poorly drawn map & no GPS
Jonathan Bornstein, DF; Bornstein simply stinks.  I know he’s a left-sided player & I know he’s a UCLA guy so he’ll forever be on Bradley’s radar but the guy simply isn’t a good left back.  He’s got speed & some passing skill but defensively, he’s atrocious.  He just gets torched way too often by international level forwards & wide men.

Ricardo Clark, MF; I’d be willing to give Clark another chance…. if the likes of several players mentioned above in the post haven’t proven that they’re better or passed Clark up in the central midfield positions.  Clark completely choked at the World Cup earning himself an ignominious 1st half tactical substitution against Ghana in the World Cup.

Jonathan Spector, DF; I don’t want to completely right Spector off, but for now with the emergence of Timothy Chandler & Eric Lichaj at right back, the latter two should be experimented with going forward in the near future.  Spector is okay defensively, but going forward he’s below average & doesn’t provide the crossing or passing an international fullback needs plus he’s often beaten for pace.  Chandler & Lichaj are both faster, they’re better defensively, though Lichaj still gets himself out of position at times, & both are much better offensively than Spector.

Who are some of the USMNT players that you think should be canned or merit more looks in the Yanks’ side?