The U.S. men’s national team’s pre-World Cup camp is off to a slow start, with minor injuries sidelining some, while other players were still making their way to the Princeton, New Jersey camp.
Monday was the symbolic beginning of the camp, and the start of an eight-day stretch where U.S. head coach Bob Bradley will select his 23-man World Cup roster.
Bradley revealed on Monday that he hopes to have his final World Cup squad chosen after next Tuesday’s friendly against the Czech Republic, and days before the United States plays Turkey on May 29th in its final home friendly before departing for South Africa.
That revelation makes the team’s friendly vs. the Czech Republic on May 25th that much more important to the players competing for the remaining unclaimed roster spots.
Several key players sat out Monday’s training, or were limited in their activities, including veterans (Tim Howard), Jay DeMerit and Carlos Bocanegra (abdominal strains). Of the fringe players who didn’t take part in Monday’s session, Chad Marshall (hamstring) and Eddie Johnson (hamstring) sat due to injuries while Alejandro Bedoya, Benny Feilhaber, Clarence Goodson and Oguchi Onyewu had yet to arrive in the United States. Landon Donovan, Edson Buddle and Herculez Gomez underwent physicals in Philadelphia on Monday morning.
Two players who were in camp were midfielders Clint Dempsey and Stuart Holden. Dempsey was fresh off becoming the first American to play in a European final after appearing in Fulham’s 2-1 loss to Atletico Madrid in the Europa League final last week. Holden reported to camp full recovered from the broken leg suffered in the U.S. team’s March friendly vs. the Netherlands.
“My leg feels 100 percent, and I’ve had no problems the last couple of weeks,” said Holden, who appeared in Bolton’s season finale after recovering from a leg fracture. “It was big to get into that environment, to run onto the field for the first time in a couple of months.
“That first tackle is always a bit of a scare, but I think I crunched Liam Ridgewell and everything felt good so I was happy.”
Holden is considered a good bet to make the 23-man roster, and is a contender for a starting role on the right wing, particularly if Dempsey is used at forward. Just where the Fulham standout will play at the World Cup seems to be in some question since the race to start at forward alongside Jozy Altidore is so wide open and Bradley could consider moving Dempsey up top.
Deployed on the right flank in most of his recent national team appearances, Dempsey admitted to preferring playing on the left wing when asked where he feels most comfortable.
“If I’m going to be playing in the midfield I’d rather play left side, so I can come inside and shoot with my right foot,” Dempsey said. “If I’m going to play up top, I’ll play the target guy or I’ll play withdrawn forward. Either one of those sounds good to me because you’re in position to score goals and that’s what I enjoy the most.
“If we’re moving the ball really well I like being in the midfield, because you get the ball on the half-turn,” Dempsey said. “But if it’s a game we’re not keeping good possession, I’d rather be up top because at least you’re getting more service, more balls coming your way so you can try to do more with them.”
Dempsey also defended his own productivity with the national team. A target of criticism at times during the past year, Dempsey believes he has played well for the national team, which is hard to argue considering the number of important goals he has scored during his national team career.
“I think it’s unfair because if you look at my goals-per-game, it’s up there with one of the best on the team,” Dempsey said of criticism of his national team form. “If you’re looking at major competitions, what have I done? The last World Cup I scored a goal, the Confederations Cup I had three goals and one assist.
“I don’t know what more y’all would want for me to do,” Dempsey said. “I got Bronze Ball (in the Confederations Cup), I’ve been able to score goals in World Cup qualifiers, and I’ve played midfield most of the time when I was able to put up those numbers. I don’t know what more you want from me.”
The battle for roster spots and lineup spots in midfield will be one of the most important of the training camp, with veteran DaMarcus Beasley one of the players battling for a place on the team, as well as in the lineup.
A veteran of the 2002 and 2006 World Cup, Beasley is considered a fringe option after spending much of the past club season on the bench for Rangers. That hasn’t discouraged Beasley, who believes he still brings plenty to the table.
“I have leadership qualities I can give to the youngsters,” Beasley said. “But at the same time I feel like I’m 20-years old again, trying to make the squad and trying to get on the pitch to be in the World Cup.”
Bradley also addressed the decision not to bring Charlie Davies to camp, re-asserting that he took into account observations from both the national team and FC Sochaux, which did not clear Davies to take part in the camp.
“It was always going to be a matter of having a good amount of information from their club,” Bradley said.
“We talked throughout the process with their coaches. We knew exactly what it looked like in training. (National team fitness coach/assistant coach) Pierre Barreau was there at one point. (National team head trainer) Ivan Pierra was there at one point.
“I saw video of training, and so we put it all together and we recognized that Charlie has put, and will need to continue to put, a tremendous amount of work into his rehab and we all support him.”
Ives Galarcep is a senior writer for FoxSoccer.com who will be covering U.S. Soccer and MLS.
