TYH’s Top 25!

Each month TYH will announce the top 25 U.S. players. The rankings will be cumulative and will take into consideration current level of play, injuries and past proficiency with the national team. The first 11 will be divided into positional leaders (4-4-2), followed by 11 reserves* and three players that deserve a shot at cap #1.

Goalkeeper:
Tim Howard

Defenders:
Carlos Bocanegra
Frank Simek
Todd Dunivant
Jonathan Spector

Midfielders:
Landon Donovan
Clint Dempsey
Benny Feilhaber
DaMarcus Beasley

Forward
Taylor Twellman
Eddie Johnson

Reserves:
Pablo Mastroeni, Brian Ching, Bobby Convey, Jay DeMerit, Marcus Hahnemann, Ricardo Clark, Oguchi Onyewu, Kenny Cooper, Steve Ralston, Jonathan Bornstein, Kasey Keller

Let’s have a look at:
Jozy Altidore (F), NY
Dax McCarty (M), FC Dallas
Gabriel Ferrari (F), Sampdoria (Italy)

ANALYSIS: TYH’s June Top 25 was heavily influenced by the Yanks recent play in the Gold Cup. Some players turned heads and moved up (Simek, Feilhaber), and others didn't use their heads and lost ground (Onyewu). Bowing a bit to the pressure of the youth-first movement, I dropped Keller out of No.1 status. It really is Howard's to lose at this point. A few MLS standouts made their way into TYH's U.S. camp, such as Cooper, Clark and Bornstein (the last two have had decent showings in the Gold Cup so far -- especially Clark, who looks like the real deal). Finally, I left two of the three players in the "Let's have a look section" because we're still waiting on Bradley to give Altidore and Ferrari a shot. It was good to see Charlie Davies (the only player dropped from this list) get a run out against China, although it really wasn't enough time to judge his play.

*The reserves include the best available players and may or may not reflect positional depth.