U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley released his 19-man roster for the September 9 friendly versus Brazil in Chicago, that some overzealous USSF marketeer dubbed the "Clash of Champions."
Here it is:
Goalkeepers: Tim Howard (Everton FC), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)
Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham FC), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock), Frank Simek (Sheffield Wednesday), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)
Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Bobby Convey (Reading FC), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids)
Forwards: Davy Arnaud (Kansas City Wizards), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Eddie Johnson (Kansas City Wizards), Josh Wolff (1860 Munich)
A pretty strong side, but a bit on the boring side. No real surprises. There were only two names that really gave me pause. The first was Real Salt Lake's young back-up keeper Chris Seitz. If (god forbid) Timmy got hurt, you are setting up poor Seitz for quite a shellacking. Sure, he played well for the U-20s at the recent World Championships, but this is Brazil and they aren't bringing their C team. Hello, Ronaldinho. Why not throw poor Brad Guzan a bone? The guy has a 0.94 GAA for Bradley's ex-club Chivas USA. The other name that stood out was Davy Arnaud. Arnaud has just four goals in 23 matches. He's not exactly lighting it up for Kansas City, who have to rely almost exclusively on Eddie Johnson for goals.
You'll also notice that there are no representatives from any of the top six MLS clubs. No Jozy. No Taylor. No Marc Burch! (Burch is a big reason DC went undefeated in August). Sounds like MLS-USSF collusion to me. But you can't really blame them. DC, New England, Houston, Chivas USA, New York, and Dallas are all still in the hunt for the MLS Supporter's Shield (the true champion of MLS). As a matter of fact, DC United and New England Revolution have an important Eastern Conference match on the same day. Hence, Davy Arnaud. Maybe, he'll celebrate his default call-up by scoring a goal.
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