TYH’s Top 25 (August)

"I can't even see the ball. It went really high up into the stands that time, Eddie."

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
Oguchi Onyewu
Steve Cherundolo
Heath Pearce

Midfielders:
Landon Donovan
Clint Dempsey
Benny Feilhaber
DaMarcus Beasley

Forward
Eddie Johnson
Jozy Altidore

Reserves:
Marcus Hahnemann, Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark, Frank Simek, Steve Ralston, Taylor Twellman, Freddy Adu, Jonathan Spector, Josh Wolff, Andy Dorman

Let’s have a look at:
Marc Burch (D), DC United
Danny Szetela (M), Columbus
Sal Zizzo (D/M), Hannover

ANALYSIS: Most of the movement in this month’s Top 25 can be attributed to MLS players in midseason form and overseas Americans still shaking off the rust. But even Bocanegra’s horrendous match against Arsenal, his worst ever with Fulham, was not enough to shake him out of the starters. Pearce at starting left back is worth a look, if only to keep Heydude off the field. No changes to the midfield, although Donovan’s recent play did give me pause. In the end, I chalked it up to Beckhamization and kept him in the starting 11. He is still one of the most talented players we’ve got. Twellman, on the other hand, dropped to the bench in favor of a Johnson-Altidore partnership. Both players are tearing up MLS right now and it would be interesting to see whether they could play together.

Two formerly injured national team players returned to the Top 25 after impressing in their comeback matches – Josh Wolff and Marcus Hahnemann. And for the love of God, can someone please realize how good Andy Dorman is! Sure, it’s only MLS but Dorman is vastly underrated and deserves a call-up sooner rather than later.

One of our “Let’s have a look at” players, Sal Zizzo, has been called up for the August 19 Sweden match, so let’s hope he gets in the match. But still no love for Danny Szetela, from Bradley (or any of the over 100 clubs reportedly interested in him). Finally, Marc Burch could be the left back we’ve been searching for. He’s shown the left-footed crossing ability of Eddie Lewis, especially from deep, and unlike Lewis he can play pretty good defense. He’s been DC United’s best player this month.

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