Bradley pulls the old okey-doke on my and picks Robbie Findley even though the kid didn't get on the field against the Czech's last night. By my "Dirty Dozen" theory, any player that wasn't a sure thing and didn't play was probably in major trouble; apparently that didn't apply to the speedy RSL striker. And it's also a bit of a surprise that both Buddle and Gomez made the team.


Here's the rest of the roster, with most of it fairly predictable. World Cup teams made is in parentheses:

GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (2010), Marcus Hahnemann (2006, 2010), Tim Howard (2006, 2010)

DEFENDERS (7): Carlos Bocanegra (2006, 2010), Jonathan Bornstein (2010), Steve Cherundolo (2002, 2006, 2010), Jay DeMerit (2010), Clarence Goodson (2010), Oguchi Onyewu (2006, 2010), Jonathan Spector (2010)

MIDFIELDERS (9): DaMarcus Beasley (2002, 2006, 2010), Michael Bradley (2010), Ricardo Clark (2010), Clint Dempsey (2006, 2010), Landon Donovan (2002, 2006, 2010), Maurice Edu (2010), Benny Feilhaber (2010), Stuart Holden (2010), José Torres (2010)

FORWARDS (4): Jozy Altidore (2010), Edson Buddle (2010), Robbie Findley (2010), Herculez Gomez (2010)


Zach and I will be live tonight over at The American Soccer Show website to take Skype calls and get the impressions of Goal.com's Noah Davis. We'll also have a short chat with Turkish Soccer's Ahmet Bob Turgut about what to expect this weekend against Turkey.


I expect much of the furor will be over the exclusion of Brian Ching and the inclusion of Robbie Findley; rather than give my take today in written form, I'm going to save it for the show tonight. I'll likely have a closer look at things tomorrow.


Feel free to work out any angst you're feeling in the comments below.


I'm also going to include the show player and chat room in this post for tonight's show, just to make things as easy as possible. If you miss the show, it will be available for download tomorrow.



Live video by Ustream

Losing 4-2 at home to a "B" Czech side isn't good. There's plenty to be concerned about from what was a fairly abject defensive performance.


But really, what has changed? What's different now, after Bob Bradley put out an experimental lineup full of guys either coming back from injury or making a last gasp effort to make the team?


The three themes I heard most last night, in order of relative importance, and my visceral reaction to the angst:


1. Onyewu didn't look good

No, no he didn't. He's obviously still stiff, far from one hundred percent, and potentially a liability at the back if he doesn't get any better. I mistakenly thought he would go a full ninety, and the fact that he didn't is a concern. But to think that a player pushing the timeline on a what was a fairly unusual knee injury would look any better than he did is nonsense; doubly so if there's no allowances made for Gooch improving over the course of the next two weeks. He has to be able to play, of course, but an ice pack on his knee wasn't unexpected, nor is it necessarily a sign of major problems.


Gooch's health and form was worry before and it's still a worry now. But the degree of that worry hasn't gone up, at least not for me, and I'm not ready to say Clarence Goodson should start because of it.


2. The defense look bad/unorganized/terrible/abysmal

Second (or possibly third choice keeper). Makeshift backline that included one assumed starter, and he was getting his first game action since October. Essentially, there are too many variables for me to be overly concerned about how a team that looks nothing like the one Bradley will start against England played. Are there endemic issues with the American defense? Maybe. But it was always going to take the first choice guys having a very good to great game for the U.S. to make it out of the group and go further in South Africa. Last night's performance changes nothing, and it certainly shouldn't be seen as an indication that goals will be flying into Howards net next month.


Besides, the two guys most critical as backups had solid individual nights in Steve Cherundolo and Clarence Goodson.


3. DEPTH!?!&!&*@! (as in, there is none)

Again, this isn't new. The U.S. isn't churning out enough high-quality players to have the luxury of a fully prepared and international-class second choice lineup. This is particularly notable in defense, as it was last night. Guzan isn't ready for prime time, Maurice Edu is only an emergency option at centerback, and Jonathan Bornstein is, well, Jonathan Bornstein. Hearth Pearce didn't do himself any favors either, but none of that was terribly surprising. Goodson's strong performance, and what appears to be his growing confidence, is a silver lining that cannot be discounted; if Onyewu is unable to play, Goodson is a reasonably solid backup. There's a drop off certainly, and it may damage American chances in South Africa if Goodson is starting, but we already knew that, didn't we?


I get it. Whenever the evidence of the shallowness of the American squad is exhibited for us all to see, conniptions follow.


The roster announcement is today at 1 PM ET on ESPN, at which point there will be plenty of time to pick over Bradley's squad, finding holes and points of weakness.


Speaking of which, the American Soccer Show will be live tonight to give you an outlet to praise/bitch about the roster at 8 PM ET. Check the website for details.


On the positive side, there's reason to believe that Herculez Gomez' amazing path to the National Team will continue with him going on to the World Cup.


Since it's required, here's my roster prediction:


KEEPERS: Howard, Guzan, Hahnemann

DEFENDERS: Bocanegra, Cherundolo, DeMerit, Onyewu, Goodson, Bornstein, Spector,

MIDFIELDERS: Donovan, Dempsey, Bradley, Edu, Clark, Holden, Beasley, Torres, Feilhaber, Bedoya

FORWARDS: Altidore, Ching, Gomez

*Yes, I changed this one already.


Saturday should tell us a lot. If things go poorly then, if Onyewu hasn't made any progress or can't play, or if the full first team lays a complete egg, panic mode is understandable. It's just a little too early.

I'll admit it. I have no idea who will play for the U.S. against the Czechs tonight at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. Speculation, and the general feeling out of camp last week in Princeton, is that Bradley will use the game to evaluate players fighting for the last few spot on his roster for South Africa, as well as get critical field time for players in desperate need of live game action. After telling reporters that "17 to 19" spots are locked up, it sounds like he still has a bit of work to do in the former regard.


Around the interwebberbloggernets people are making their best guesses, putting forth what they hope to see, and just generally shooting spitballs at a houseflies. They might connect on a shot out of pure luck, but more likely they're as clueless as the rest of us.


All I'm really certain of is that Oguchi Onyewu will get ninety minutes because he needs it, that twenty-three guys will dress, and that only seventeen will play.


Six substitutions means thirteen guys, those that don't make the roster plus unused subs, won't see the field tonight. Subtracting the one keeper who is unlikely to play, it's actually this group of twelve that intrigues me the most. It stands to reason that the twelve will be made up of players in two categories: locks who don't need to play for whatever reason (or for whom rest is more important), and bubble players whose World Cup dream is about to come to an end.


If you're Eddie Johnson, Alejandro Bedoya, Chad Marshall, Sacha Kljestan, Robbie Rogers, Edson Buddle, Herculez Gomez, Robbie Findley, or one of a handful of others and you're not part of tonight's roster, it might be time to settle those vacation plans or get ready to head back to your MLS team. Hell, even Brian Ching could be on this list, though his status might be more "lock" than "bubble". These are the questions we still don't have the answers to, and why we'll be anxiously waiting for tomorrow morning (or whenever it might) and Bradley's final twenty-three for South Africa.


The fun will be in guessing which of those left out are locks not playing or bubble guys on the way to the cut list. I'm not sure we'll all agree.


We'll know soon enough who will represent the U.S.A. in South Africa. But tonight will give us our first clue as to which of the camp thirty has hit the end of the road.

First, an announcement that the American Soccer Show will be live via UStream, taking Skype calls, emails, and tweets on the roster tomorrow (Wednesday) at 8 PM ET. Put it down in your AmSoc notebooks so you don't forget.

***


I don't have time for a complete breakdown, but here's your 30-man USMNT roster.


Goalkeepers- Tim Howard, Marcus Hahnemann, Brad Guzan


Defenders- Carlos Bocanegra, Oguchi Onyewu, Steve Cherundolo, Jonathan Spector, Jay DeMerit, Clarence Goodson, Jonathan Bornstein, Heath Pearce, Chad Marshall


Midfielders- Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Stuart Holden, Ricardo Clark, Maurice Edu, Benny Feilhaber, Jose Francisco Torres, Alejandro Bedoya, DaMarcus Beasley, Sacha Kljestan, Robbie Rogers


Forwards- Jozy Altidore, Robbie Findley, Brian Ching, Edson Buddle, Eddie Johnson, Herculez Gomez


I'm having to track this over the internet from work, so I'm not sure who is not going to camp from this list. Obviously the big news is that Charlie Davies didn't make the cut.


Consider this an open thread for discussion, and don't forget about the live roster review show via UStream at the American Soccer Show website tomorrow at 8 PM ET.

In a few short hours, American soccer's favorite Ivy-Leaguer in sweatpants will read 30 names off of a sheet of paper, and they will form the provisional World Cup squad. Until then, however, I have an excellent opportunity to try and get into Bobbo's brain and speculate wildly. For the sake of simplicity, I'll assume that list includes 4 keepers, 10 defenders, 10 midfielders, and 6 strikers.


First off, we can include the guys we know are going to make it. Landon Donovan, Timmeh Howard, and Bob's kid are all going, and thanks to ESPNDeportes, we know Chuck D will be there, too.


With those guys plugged in, the squad looks like this so far:

GK (2/4): Howard, Guzan

DF (4/10): Onyewu, Bocanegra, Spector, DeMerit

MF (5/10): Bradley, Donovan, Dempsey, Edu, Holden

ST (2/6): Altidore, Davies


That's thirteen so far. Next, the fringe players who are on form. They might get ignored sometimes, but right now, these guys are making themselves very difficult for Bob to overlook. Even if they don't go to South Africa, they deserve to make the 30 man roster.

GK (3/4): Howard, Guzan, Hahnemann

DF (4/10): Onyewu, Bocanegra, Spector, DeMerit

MF (6/10): Bradley, Donovan, Dempsey, Edu, Holden, Bedoya

ST (4/6): Altidore, Davies, Gomez, Buddle


That's seventeen. More than halfway full, and the main core of the squad is basically there. Now is when it starts to get interesting. The next group are the fringe players who make up a big chunk of the provisional squad, but who will also be the first guys trimmed when we go to 23.

GK (3/4): Howard, Guzan, Hahnemann

DF (9/10): Onyewu, Bocanegra, Spector, DeMerit, Cherundolo, Bornstein, Goodson, Marshall, Pearce

MF (10/10): Bradley, Donovan, Dempsey, Edu, Holden, Bedoya, Clark, Torres, Feilhaber, Beasley

ST (5/6): Altidore, Davies, Gomez, Buddle, Casey


Now, the midfield is so deep, there probably won't be any big surprises, and a few good players will inevitably be left out (Kyle Beckerman and Sacha Kljestan, for instance), but I still expect there to be a few spots that could throw up some surprises. The fourth goalkeeping spot, for example, was held pretty comfortably by Troy Perkins, but following DC United's disastrous start, I wouldn't be surprised to see that place usurped by say, Nick Rimando. The final defensive spot is a bit of a mystery, too. Will Bob take another player in the troubled left back position and opt for Edgar Castillo? Or will he try and take some experience in the form of Jimmy Conrad (likely) or Frankie Hejduk (sorry, Jason, but not-so-likely)? And that last forward spot is an interesting proposition, as well. Usually, Brian Ching would be on that like Tiger Woods on a skanky waitress, but with the Big Kahuna (we can still call him that, right?) out injured, it offers an opportunity for someone like the striker-who-must-not-be-named, Robbie Findley, or Jeff Cunningham to seize a golden opportunity.


With those issues in mind, here's my prediction for the thirty-man provisional squad:

GK (4/4): Howard, Guzan, Hahnemann, Rimando

DF (10/10): Onyewu, Bocanegra, Spector, DeMerit, Cherundolo, Bornstein, Goodson, Marshall, Pearce, Conrad

MF (10/10): Bradley, Donovan, Dempsey, Edu, Holden, Bedoya, Clark, Torres, Feilhaber, Beasley

ST (6/6): Altidore, Davies, Gomez, Buddle, Casey, Johnson


Your thoughts, readers?