By: COLIN REESE
Many American soccer writers, commentators, pundits, and fans won’t ever even consider the use of young and inexperienced American players on the United States Men’s National Team because those players aren’t the current starters, so there’s never any real pressure placed on the USMNT to conduct an actual examination of the player pool, which holds the United States back.
Better national teams are comprised of players playing in top European or Latin American leagues, so although the World Cup or international play is a different animal, new players’ club play offers up a sense of how they will perform at the international level against top competition.
Cruising along with the status quo is a bad strategy for the USMNT to close the gap with first and second-tier national teams.
The United States needs to start bringing new and talented players into the fold and see how they do. If these players don’t appear to be capable of playing well at the international level after several appearances, then other players should be tried out.
U.S. Soccer keeps a list of players in the pool, but there definitely needs to be a list of around 100 players organized by position that need to be monitored.
Here, World Soccer Source identifies 12 players from the United States Men’s National Team’s World Cup squad that Jürgen Klinsmann should continue to use, and 11 new players that are needed to fill the remaining roster spots and improve the national team are also identified.
PLAYERS THE USMNT SHOULD KEEP:
GK: Tim HOWARD, Brad GUZAN
CB: Geoff CAMERON, John BROOKS
OB: DeAndre YEDLIN, Fabian JOHNSON
DM: Jermaine JONES, Michael BRADLEY
AM: Clint DEMPSEY, Mix DISKERUD, Julian GREEN
S: Jozy ALTIDORE
PLAYERS THE USMNT SHOULD DROP/ADD:
OUT: Nick RIMANDO
IN: Cody CROPPER
OUT: Omar GONZALEZ
IN: Shane O’NEILL
OUT: Matt BESLER
IN: Michael OROZCO
OUT: DaMarcus BEASLEY
IN: Chris KLUTE
OUT: Timothy CHANDLER
IN: Kellyn ACOSTA
OUT: Kyle BECKERMAN
IN: Maurice EDU
OUT: Alejandro BEDOYA
IN: Joe CORONA
OUT: Brad DAVIS
IN: Benji JOYA
OUT: Graham ZUSI
IN: Dillon POWERS
OUT: Chris WONDOLOWSKI
IN: Juan AGUDELO
OUT: Aron JÓHANNSSON
IN: Benny FEILHABER*
*Not a like-for-like switch but the final roster has a first and second choice option for each spot in the 4-2-3-1 formation.
The Updated USMNT Roster:
GK: Tim HOWARD, Brad GUZAN, Cody CROPPER
RB: DeAndre YEDLIN, Kellyn ACOSTA
RCB: Geoff CAMERON, Shane O’NEILL
LCB: John BROOKS, Michael OROZCO
LB: Chris KLUTE, Fabian JOHNSON
DM: Michael BRADLEY, Maurice EDU
CM: Jermaine JONES, Dillon POWERS
RW: Joe CORONA, Benji JOYA
CAM: Benny FEILHABER, Mix DISKERUD
LW: Clint DEMPSEY, Julian GREEN
S: Jozy ALTIDORE, Juan AGUDELO
Abbreviation Guide:
GK- Goalkeeper
CB- Center Back
OB- Outside Back
RB- Right Back
RCB- Right Center Back
LCB- Left Center Back
LB- Left Back
DM- Defensive Midfielder
CM- Central Midfielder
AM– Attacking Midfielder
RW- Right Wing
CAM- Central Attacking Midfielder
LW- Left Wing
S- Striker