The Gold Cup will surely be the little brother tournament this summer around our region, struggling to get some attention amid “big bro,” the ongoing World Cup qualifying matches.
Jurgen Klinsmann told us long, long ago that the Gold Cup would be a B-team roster, testing the depth of the U.S. player pool.
But that doesn’t mean the names involved won’t stoke the fires of conversation – even if they are just little camp fires rather than roaring bonfires.
CONCACAF, regional soccer’s governing body, just released 35-man preliminary rosters for each Gold Cup team. And there are a few interesting names on Klinsmann’s list.
Remember, not all of these names will be on the 23-man roster named later; twelve will be “excused.”
- As expected, Landon Donovan has been named. I have a feeling his name will come up a few times over the next two weeks, but not about Gold Cup. If the U.S. offense continues to struggle as it did Wednesday against Belgium …
- Oguchi Onyewu and Carlos Bocanegra are both on the list. What is this, 2006? What, Claudio Reyna wasn’t available?
- Seriously, you wonder about Bocanegra. Is this the best use of his time, considering that he might need additional rest, and that the only chance he has of getting back into the U.S. side is to get into a better club situation. That would be happening right about the same time as the Gold Cup in July.
- Benny Feilhaber was named; expect to see him, and expect the conversations to start over one of the few U.S. men who does have something creative in his feet. Same for Jose Torres.
- John Seamus McInerney has been named. You know him as “Jack” McInerney. Or, perhaps you know him as Major League Soccer’s co-leading scorer of the moment.
- Omar Gonzalez is there, which is interesting. Klinsmann has said that players used for World Cup qualifiers are unlikely to be used for the Gold Cup. LA Galaxy coach Bruce Arena certainly won’t appreciate seeing his star center back miss so much of June and July.
- Stuart Holden (pictured) is on the list, as expected. So much of the focus around the U.S. squad during the tournament will be on Bolton’s mending man.
Here is the provisional U.S. roster:
Goalkeepers: Tally Hall (Houston Dynamo), Bill Hamid (DC United), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
Defenders: Corey Ashe (Houston Dynamo), DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla), Tony Beltran (Real Salt Lake), Matt Besler (Sporting KC), Carlos Bocanegra (Racing Santander), Edgar Castillo (Tijuana), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Oguchi Onyewu (Malaga), Michael Orozco (Puebla), Michael Parkhurst (Ausburg)
Midfielders: Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Alejandro Bedoya (Heisingborgs), Joe Corona (Tijuana), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Mix Diskerud (Rosenborg), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders), Benny Feilhaber (Sporting KC), Josh Gatt (Molde), Stuart Holden (Bolton), Brek Shea (Stoke City), Jose Torres (Tigres), Graham Zusi (Sporting KC)
Forwards: Will Bruin (Houston Dynamo), Herculez Gomez (Santos), Alan Gordon (San Jose Earthquakes), Eddie Johnson (Seattle Sounders), Jack McInerney (Philadelphia Union), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes), Bobby Wood (1860 Munich)
