If the U.S. men’s national team’s friendly with the Czech Republic on Tuesday night was being used to book the final roster spots on the World Cup, then Herculez Gomez made one of the stronger cases for one of those tickets.
The reigning scoring leader in Mexican soccer did what he has done for the past four months in Mexico -- come on as a second-half substitute and score a key goal. It wasn’t a perfect performance, but on a night where several players failed to impress in their final auditions, Gomez’s 45-minute cameo stood out even more.
The final 23-man USA World Cup roster will be announced on Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. ET on ESPN. The team returns to action on Saturday against Turkey in Philadelphia before departing for South Africa.
Here is the squad I see being selected:
FINAL PROJECTED USA ROSTER
Goalkeepers - Tim Howard, Marcus Hahnemann, Brad Guzan
Defenders - Oguchi Onyewu, Carlos Bocanegra, Steve Cherundolo, Jonathan Spector, Jay DeMerit, Clarence Goodson, Jonathan Bornstein.
Midfielders - Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Stuart Holden, Ricardo Clark, Maurice Edu, DaMarcus Beasley, Jose Francisco Torres, Benny Feilhaber, Alejandro Bedoya.
Forwards - Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore, Brian Ching, Herculez Gomez.
Ives Galarcep is a senior writer for FoxSoccer.com who will be covering U.S. Soccer and MLS.
