Gold Cup Roster

Pos.	Player	Age	Caps	Club
GK	Troy Perkins	27	1	Vålerenga
DF	Heath Pearce	24	23	Rostock II
DF	Clarence Goodson	27	2	IK Start
DF	Chad Marshall	24	4	Columbus Crew
MF	Kyle Beckerman	27	3	Real Salt Lake
DF	Steve Cherundolo	30	51	Hannover 96
MF	Robbie Rogers	22	1	Columbus Crew
MF	Logan Pause	27	0	Chicago Fire
FW	Charlie Davies	23	10	Hammarby
MF	Stuart Holden	23	0	Houston
FW	Brian Ching	31	36	Houston
DF	Jimmy Conrad	32	24	Kansas City
MF	Colin Clark	25	0	Colorado Rapids
DF	Michael Parkhurst	25	5	Nordsjælland
MF	Sam Cronin	22	0	Toronto FC
DF	Jay Heaps	32	0	New England
FW	Kenny Cooper	24	4	FC Dallas
GK	Luis Robles	25	0	Kaiserslautern
MF	Freddy Adu	20	13	Benfica
FW	Santino Quaranta	24	11	D.C. United
MF	Brad Evans	24	0	Seattle Sounders
MF	Davy Arnaud	29	2	Kansas City
GK	Jon Busch	32	1	Chicago Fire

For those who don't know, the Gold Cup is a biennial tournament for CONCACAF teams. It will run from July 3rd-26th in stadium across the US. After the Confederations Cup, the US has largely sent a "B" team. Soccer by Ives breaks down the composition of the squad nicely. The highlight for most people will be Freddy Adu. It would be fantastic if Adu shone, but the problem is he would need to be absolutely devastating in attack to atone for his weakness in defense. I'm not holding my breath, particularly given his lack of playing time.

I am more excited for the potential emergence of Stuart Holden, who has really impressed me the few times I have seen him play. The US MNT really needs attacking options off the bench-- the likes of Casey and Kljestan have not shown enough.

In addition to an attacking midfielder like Holden, I would really like to see another pacey striker come forward. Assuming that Altidore, Ching, and Davies are locks for the World Cup, I think the fourth roster spot should go to a speedster, rather than a target man like Cooper. He need not be the most skilled player-- just fast and good enough on the dribble to get to the byline and square it for the late-arriving midfielders. But who fits the bill? Mac Kandji would be great, if only he were available. Here are some other options, including their appearance and goal scoring record (in parenthesis) at their most recent club:

• Santino Quaranta (DC United)-- 40 (7)
• Robbie Findley (Salt Lake)-- 57 (18)
  
• Jeremiah White (Aarhus)-- 59 (6)
  
• Chris Pontius (DC United)-- 16 (4)
  
• Marcus Tracy (Aalburg)-- 5 (1)
  
• Yura Movsisyan (Salt Lake)-- 42 (11)
  
• Jemal Johnson (free)-- 72 (10)
  
• Eddie Johnson (Fulhum)-- 30 (2)
  

What do you think? With the exception of Eddie Johnson, I haven't seen enough of these guys to handicap them. That said, Chirs Pontius, Robbie Findley, and Yura Movsisyan have the best goal scoring records, and the biggest upsides, so I think they definitely deserve a look. Also: how the heck was Eddie Johnson getting games at Cardiff, with only 2 goals and 4 assists in 30 appearences (albeit 25 appearences as a sub)?