When U.S. national team head coach Bob Bradley named his 30-man provisional World Cup roster, he was just beginning what will be a grueling process to select the 23 players who will represent the United States in South Africa.
The toughest work begins on Monday in Princeton, New Jersey, where the 30 players will convene to battle for roster spots and starting jobs and fulfilled dreams. There are so many questions left unanswered, and so many positions to be decided.
Consider that aside from Tim Howard playing in goal, Michael Bradley playing in central midfield and Jozy Altidore up front, there isn’t much else than can be taken for granted about how the U.S. starting lineup and roster will shake out over the next three weeks (Donovan, Bocanegra and Dempsey are locks to start as well of course, but where they will play is another matter).
Whether it is simply making the 23-man World Cup roster, or winning the starting jobs up for grabs, America's best will spend the next two weeks battling each other before they take on the world.
Here are just some of the key position and roster battles that will be waged in the coming days in Princeton, and at the U.S. team’s upcoming friendlies against the Czech Republic and Turkey.
BACKUP GOALKEEPER
Brad Guzan has long been Tim Howard’s backup, but Marcus Hahnemann is coming off a dream year at Wolves that saw him put together one of the better seasons in the English Premier League. Guzan’s lack of playing time at Aston Villa opens the door for Hahnemann to claim the No. 2 job.
STARTING CENTRAL MIDFIELDER
Michael Bradley is entrenched as a starter, but it is anybody’s guess who Bob Bradley will choose to partner with his son. Ricardo Clark has held the job for some time, but a slow start in Germany opened the door for some other competitors. Chief among them is Maurice Edu, who enjoyed a strong season with Rangers. His defensive tenacity coupled with good attacking qualities, makes him the top competitor for the spot Clark held for so long.
Don’t expect Clark to give it up easily. He managed to earn a starting job with Eintracht Frankfurt by the end of the Bundesliga season, scoring a contract extension in the process, so he will be fit and ready to reclaim his starting job. Among the other players competing for the starting job are Jose Francisco Torres and Benny Feilhaber.
A subplot in this race will be the battle for roster spots. Will Bob Bradley bring five central midfielders, or will one of Feilhaber, Torres, Edu or Clark not make the 23-man roster? Sacha Kljestan’s inclusion in the 30-man roster makes things even more interesting because he was actually the starter just a year ago, before a dip in form cost him his place.
LEFT BACK
A position that has been a problem for the U.S. national team for a decade, left back remains a position in doubt heading into the World Cup. U.S. captain Carlos Bocanegra may remove the doubt if he is deployed at left back, where he plays for his club team, but Bocanegra is still seen as one of the two best center backs in the pool. If Oguchi Onyewu and Jay DeMerit can start in the middle, Bocanegra is a good bet to start at left back.
Now, if Bocanegra is needed in the middle, things get interesting. Jonathan Bornstein has played quite a bit at left back, especially against top competition, but he has also made his share of mistakes, which has made him a bit of a whipping boy for U.S. fans. Bob Bradley still has faith in Bornstein, but Heath Pearce is still competing for a roster spot and could push Bornstein. Pearce has shown improved form over the past six months, but will still need a strong camp to make the team and move past Bornstein on the depth chart.
Another option at left back that may emerge come tournament time is Jonathan Spector, who played at left back for most of the season with West Ham. He struggled mightily for his club though, and Bradley has expressed a preference of having him play right back, but with veteran Steve Cherundolo an option on the right, Spector could wind up seeing time at left back if Bornstein and Pearce don’t show enough in camp.
RIGHT WING
Clint Dempsey has been a lock starter on the right flank for the national team for some time, but the question marks at forward mean he may need to play up top. If so, right wing becomes a very interesting position to follow.
Stuart Holden played well in his World Cup qualifying appearances, and his energy and service on the flank make him the leading candidate to start, but veteran DaMarcus Beasley and Alejandro Bedoya are also in the mix for minutes.
The more intriguing battle to watch, at least in camp, may be between Beasley and Bedoya, with a roster spot very possibly on the line between the two. Beasley is the veteran, having played in two World Cups, but he is also coming off a season in Scotland where he barely played for Rangers. Bedoya is in the midst of a strong season for Swedish club Orebro and he brings some good attacking qualities both to the wings and in an attacking midfield role.
BACKUP CENTERBACK
The depth chart at center back is pretty set at the top, with Oguchi Onyewu (when healthy), Carlos Bocanegra and Jay DeMerit. The fourth center back spot is a battle between Clarence Goodson and Chad Marshall.
To be fair, Goodson has pulled away in this race over the past six months, and has a good hold on the position after enjoying success both with club and country, but Marshall is healthy and ready to regain a place he once held a year ago. Marshall is a two-time defending MLS defender of the year, but he didn’t enjoy the best second half of the season in 2009. His dip in form, coupled with injuries this year, has left him as an outsider battling for consideration.
FORWARDS
The most highly-anticipated battle of them all. You have five forwards (Brian Ching, Robbie Findley, Herculez Gomez, Edson Buddle and Eddie Johnson) not just competing for a potential starting spot alongside Jozy Altidore, but actually competing for between two and three roster spots.
Ching would be considered a favorite to earn a spot, but he’s returning from hamstring and calf injuries and still isn’t 100 percent. He has played well alongside Altidore before, but his age and injury history could make him a risky pick.
Speaking of injuries, Johnson will come into camp nursing a hamstring injury that could cost him the first week of camp. That will hurt him as it will give the other forwards more practice time and more chances to impress the coaches. Johnson should still get his chance to play in the friendlies, assuming he recovers fully.
The most intriguing storylines in the forward pool involve Buddle and Gomez, two of the most in-form players on the roster. They will need to show that their recent goal-scoring success can translate to the international level. At this point it’s a toss-up as to who is favored, but the fact that Buddle is playing so well with Landon Donovan on the Los Angeles Galaxy certainly works in his favor.
The longshot in this mix is Robbie Findley, who made the 30-man roster as the pure speed option in place of Charlie Davies. Findley didn’t score his first goal of the MLS season until last night, but he did show good speed and movement in Real Salt Lake’s 3-1 win over Houston.
Findley had been carrying a knee injury that hampered him both in recent national team friendlies and the start of the MLS season. If he’s fully recovered, Findley could wind up being a surprise selection for the 23-man roster when it is finalized on May 30th.
Ives Galarcep is a senior writer for FoxSoccer.com who will be covering U.S. Soccer and MLS.
