What Is Bruce Arena’s Best United States Men’s National Team 23 Right Now?
Bruce Arena has stated on multiple occasions that he already has a good idea of who will be on his roster in World Cup qualifying in March of 2017 and that there will only be a few changes.
Let’s look at who could be on his roster, and let’s look at it position by position. World Soccer Source would select Rubio Rubin over Jozy Altidore, even though Altidore has been scoring regularly. Andrew Farrell is another player that this writer would find a place for either as a center back or as a right back, but who knows how high Arena rates Farrell right now?
For the breakdown, look below, but here is a more detailed explanation of the players at each position. Each of the 11 positions has a starter and back-up listed, but there are three goalkeepers listed and three strikers or center forwards listed. There are three center forwards listed because having only two is one too many. There must be more than one back-up for this position because this is obviously where most of the team’s scoring comes from. In order to account for three strikers, there are only three wings listed, but Fabian Johnson is really a wing who can play on either side of the wing despite being listed as an outside back.
This roster made sure to include two attacking midfielders: Benny Feilhaber and Lee Nguyen. Nguyen has also excelled out wide in a line of three attacking midfielders in front of two holding midfielders in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Keep in mind that both Sebastian Lletget and Kelyn Rowe are attacking midfielders by trade who are frequently used as wings, and an argument can be made that Lletget and Rowe are good enough right now to play that position over Feilhaber and Nguyen. Also remember that Juan Agudelo, Rubio Rubin, and Bobby Wood can all play as wide attackers or forwards as well.
Here is one opinion of the best United States 23-man roster possible under Bruce Arena right now:
Goalkeeper: Brad Guzan, Ethan Horvath, William Yarbrough
Right Back: DeAndre Yedlin, Eric Lichaj
Right Center Back: Geoff Cameron, Andrew Farrell
Left Center Back: John Brooks, Steve Birnbaum
Left Back: Jorge Villafaña, Fabian Johnson
Defensive Midfielder: Michael Bradley, Dax McCarty
Center Midfielder: Darlington Nagbe, Kellyn Acosta
Right Wing: Sebastian Lletget, Kelyn Rowe
Attacking Midfielder: Benny Feilhaber, Lee Nguyen
Left Wing: Christian Pulisic, (Kelyn Rowe)
Striker: Bobby Wood, Juan Agudelo, Rubio Rubin
*Note: Clint Dempsey is still not medically cleared to play