USMNT Roster Set

USMNT Head Coach Bob Bradley has set his 19 man roster for the September 9th match up against Brazil. Considering the fact that this is a FIFA date, the roster isn't that big a shock:

Goalkeepers: Tim Howard (Everton, England), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham, England), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, Germany), Jay DeMerit (Watford, England), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege, Belgium), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock, Germany), Frank Simek (Sheffield Wednesday, England), Jonathan Spector (West Ham, England)

Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Michael Bradley (Heerenveen, Netherlands), Bobby Convey (Reading, England), Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England), Benny Feilhaber (Derby, England), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado)

Forwards: Davy Arnaud (Kansas City), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles), Eddie Johnson (Kansas City), Josh Wolff (1860 Munich, Germany)

I have to figure that Bradley will use the following starting line-up:

Howard

Bocanegra ------ Gooch

Cherundolo ------------------------- Spector

Mastroeni ----- Bradley

Donovan -------------------------------Beasely

Johnson ----- Deuce

I would like to see DeMerit play in central defense instead of Gooch, but considering the way that Bradley has been playing the side, Gooch should be a lock for a start. A lot of people are speculating that Donovan and Dempsey will start up top with each other. I think that they will both start, but I think that EJ will get a start up top with Deuce, who seems to have found a calling at forward for Fulham.

I would have liked to have seen Jimmy Conrad play in the middle of defense, instead of Bocanegra, as I think he supports Gooch much better than 'Los does, but Jimmy got a pass on flying to Chicago this time around.

All in all, I really don't have any complaints for this line up. I am surprised that Bornstein was left off the roster, but considering that Chivas USA are in the middle of a playoff race, Preki must have called in a favor.

My biggest complaint is that the USSF has seemed to have failed at securing a second match for the two FIFA dates in September. I know that playing against CONCACAF teams is getting old, but hell, see if Panama wants to take a trip to Miami or LA or something like that. Getting our guys playing time together now will help them out later when they are trying to handle the hostile atmospheres of Costa Rica or Azteca.

BTW, it seems as if the Catalonia match is getting terminated as well. If this does happen, a second match in September seems more important than ever.