US Friendly vs. Denmark
January 20, 2007
Tomorrow, Saturday 1/20, the US National team will play its 1st friendly since the World Cup and since Bob Bradley was named interim head coach. We should see some new players on the pitch replacing those that retired (i.e. Brian McBride, Claudio Reyna, and Eddie Pope) after their departure from Germany this past summer, including Jonathan Bornstein. But there are still some players, such as Jay DeMerit, that are currently having some success in their respective leagues, that are being left off the player pool.
Even though in the scheme of things this game really means nothing, it means a lot for Bradley and his campaign on taking the interim tag off of his name and muting the calls for a marquee name to replace him. (As there are plenty on potential replacements on the back burner, Houllier from France, Queiroz from Man U, Pekerman from Argentina, and some incredible rumors, such as Mourihno from Chelsea, and even Klinnsmann returning into the mix after some cooling off time between he and Sunil Gulati, the head of US Soccer).
Will the US Men take a lowly Denmark team to task and beat them with ease, or will they play an uninspired game and not perform as they should? If the latter is the case the hollers from those calling for a big name replacement of Bruce Arena will only get louder and more emphatic. I, as many of those interested in this new chapter of US Soccer, will be tuned in on ESPN at 5pm EST and will surely cram the blogs after the final whistle is blown to discuss this game in great detail.
Just released are the 18 man roster for the game:
Roster by Position
Goalkeepers (2) – Joe Cannon (Los Angeles Galaxy), Matt Reis (New England Revolution)
Defenders (7)
– Chris Albright (Los Angeles Galaxy), Bobby Boswell (D.C. United),
Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Dan Califf (Aalborg BK), Jimmy Conrad
(Kansas City Wizards), Bryan Namoff (D.C. United), Heath Pearce (FC
Nordsjælland)
Midfielders (4) – Kyle
Beckerman (Colorado Rapids), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Justin
Mapp (Chicago Fire), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids)
Forwards (5)
–Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Eddie
Johnson (Kansas City Wizards), Nate Jaqua (Los Angeles Galaxy), Chris
Rolfe (Chicago Fire)
It is great to see some fresh faces on this team and start getting some of these kids some well needed experience and exposure. GO USA!!!
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