Andrew Farrell

23 players for the USMNT Gold Cup roster

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Reasoning Behing the Roster Proposal:

Who knows which players Jürgen Klinsmann will put on the Gold Cup roster for the United States Men’s National Team?

Maybe, the roster will include some of the best players the United States has, or maybe none of the European-based players will be there.

Maybe MLS players who are vital to their teams’ success will be passed over for players from the national team youth ranks.

Will Freddy Adu be dragged up from Brazil or won’t he? Does Klinsmann even want Adu on the team for the Gold Cup?

Who knows?

Will Benny Feilhaber and Joe Corona play a bigger role in World Cup qualifying and thus be passed over for Gold Cup duty?

Who knows?

There is a gap between what Klinsmann says he will do and what he actually does. Trying to really predict what he will do is next to impossible.

Below is one person’s opinion of a 23-man roster of mostly non-European-based players with the skill and physical gifts to play high-quality, attractive, and effective soccer that leads to victories:

Goalkeepers:

Sean JOHNSON

Bill HAMID

Cody CROPPER

 

Center Backs: 

Gale AGBOSSOUMONDE

Andrew FARRELL

Caleb STANKO

George JOHN

 

Outside Backs:

Jonathan SPECTOR

Eric LICHAJ

Chris KLUTE

Kofi SARKODIE

*POSSIBLE OPTION: DeAndre Yedlin

 

Defensive and Box-to-Box Midfielders:

Perry KITCHEN

Amobi OKUGO

Dax MCCARTY

Benji JOYA

 

Attacking Midfielders 

Benny FEILHABER

Joe CORONA

Freddy ADU

Joe GYAU

 

Strikers: 

Juan AGUDELO

Terrence BOYD

Mario RODRIGUEZ

Tony TAYLOR

 

USMNT Center Backs: Start Gale Agbossoumonde and Andrew Farrell

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Gale Agbossoumonde. (Source: Toronto F.C.)
Gale Agbossoumonde. (Source: Toronto F.C.)

 

Opinion:

With Geoff Cameron having a natural tendency to making dribbling forays out of the back, using Cameron as a right back allows the United States Men’s National Team to attack wide and defend well along the flanks.

Many of the best teams in the world put their best attacker out left, so the player can cut onto their right foot as the player attacks the goal by going at the center of the defense.

Using Cameron out right would allow the United States to have a skilled and athletic defender marking this type of attack by either forcing the player out wide toward the sideline or into the center of the defense which should be guarded by Gale Agbossoumonde and Andrew Farrell.

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Changes: An updated USMNT roster proposal

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Benny Feilhaber. (Photo: Reuters)
Benny Feilhaber. (Photo: Reuters)

 

Roughly a year ago, Jürgen Klinsmann suggested that the problem with the United States Men’s National Team was that the team needed to be “an edge more nastier” and work the referees more.

That tactic seems to have not worked.

Klinsmann once famously said “Anyone can play left back,” and if that was his attitude in a World Cup qualifier, then inexperienced players with a high-skill level deserve a shot in the upcoming friendlies with Belgium and Germany.

Since Klinsmann’s approach to coaching the United States Men’s National Team has achieved no real progress in improving the technical ability of the team, this writer would contend that essentially tossing in a large group of new players into the deep end against Belgium and Germany would at least offer the potential to see some improvement at various positions and in the overall technical ability of the team.

With other CONCACAF teams demonstrating better technical skill in World Cup qualifiers than the United States, the next two friendlies should be used to really take some roster and starting line-up risks just to see what the United States has in the talent pool. Certainly, Germany offers the chance to see new players’ skill level while factoring in nerves and inexperience.

What’s the real harm in really seeing how some totally new and promising players do when thrown into the lion’s den against Germany in an international friendly?

No matter what happens against Belgium or Germany, the United States should fare fine in World Cup qualifiers if it starts Tim Howard, Jonathan Spector, Omar Gonzalez,  Geoff Cameron, Fabian Johnson, Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Benny Feilhaber, Clint Dempsey, Juan Agudelo, and Jozy Altidore.

As opposed to what Klinsmann suggested below, a major change in the players included on the United States Men’s National Team as discussed below would seem to be a better strategy to improve the level of play.

Change the players or up the nastiness as suggested in the video below? You decide.

 

Goalkeepers:

Tim HOWARD

Brad GUZAN

Sean JOHNSON

 

Defenders:

Geoff CAMERON

Omar GONZALEZ

George JOHN

Gale AGBOSSOUMONDE

 

Fabian JOHNSON

Jonathan SPECTOR

Andrew FARRELL

Chris KLUTE

 

Midfielders:

Michael BRADLEY

Perry KITCHEN

Benji JOYA

Dax McCARTY

 

Clint DEMPSEY

Benny FEILHABER

Joe CORONA

Freddy ADU

 

Forwards:

Juan AGUDELO

Terrence BOYD

Tony TAYLOR

Mario RODRIGUEZ

 

Possible Starting XI Formation:

Starting XI
Starting XI