The US boasts an embarrassment of minor riches in the center of midfield. Clark, Feilhaber, Edu, and Jermaine Jones are set to battle it out for a starting midfield place alongside Michael Bradley at next year's World Cup. Waiting in the wings are an additional three contenders-- Torres, Beckerman, and Mastroeni. Bob Bradley faces a selection headache.
The next season will be enormously important for Clark, Feilhaber, Torres, and Edu. Clark is probably the current incumbent on the back of his Confederations Cup performances, where he put in tackles like a whirling dervish. He also hung back, freeing up Michael Bradley to burst forward. Though Michael Bradley lacks the finesse of Feilhaber, he functions as the engine of this US team, playing non-stop box-to-box. Accordingly, the Clark/ Bradley pairing looks established for the time being. Clark, at 26, has shown he can perform against the big teams. While Edu (23) can serve in much the same role, and might arguably be a better player, he will have a hard time supplanting his more experienced teammate. Feilhaber, meanwhile, is a different beast altogether. He is a more creative, more versatile, and more attacking player than the others. Unfortunately for him, he has been less effective starting than when he is used as a sub. Accordingly, he will likely continue to see the field off the bench.
Jermaine Jones is the wildcard-- he's already proven himself a good player in the Bundesliga, but he will have to show he can perform at the international level as part of squad which already boasts some good chemistry. Bob Bradley will need to see what he can do against strong opposition (as he has already seen with Clark and Feilhaber). [Updated 7/14/09: there's been a lot of confusion about whether Jones would be eligible to play for the US against Mexico. The NYTimes reports that he is eligible as of Aug 2. The bigger question is whether he will recover from his injury in time, which seemed unlikely.]
Given the US's strength in central midfield, Bob Bradley should think about testing Jermaine Jones as a left back. Although Bocanegra acquitted himself very well as a left back at the Confed Cup, he offered relatively little going forward. Jones would be the opposite-- he could be a wingback, terrorizing the flank and serving in balls of the sort that Spector and Churundolo provide from the right. Jones boasts tremendous pace, a good tackle, a strong left foot, and solid defensive positioning (albeit as a defensive midfielder rather than a full back). Moreover, lining Jones up a left back would be a great test of his professionalism; if he makes a fuss about being misused, he may not have the attitude required to be part of the US team. This is a big question for Jones in particular.
Yes, the US has had indifferent experiences with makeshift left backs in the past. Yes, his defensive positioning will be off. But it's certainly worth a shot.
Edgar Castillo deserves a gander as well. Castillo looks assured on the ball and good going forward. But does he have the necessary defensive qualities? I honestly don't know. Merely because of his age (22) and inexperience with the national team, it seems unlikely that he would be in serious consideration for the World Cup squad. However, he certainly deserves a cap-tying run-out in some qualifiers, as he might be a valuable addition to the US team moving forward. Also, a sidenote: is it just me or does he seem eerily similar to Jonathan Bornstein (the appearence, the position, the Mexican heritage)?
Separated at birth? Bornstein (l) and Castillo.***
Much More
Danny Szetela (22) is heading back to Racing after Brescia decided not to buy him.
The Developmental Academy games are available on the USSoccer website, if you want to see some young American players and can get the stupid video player to work. On that same note: USSoccer does a pretty good job with Youtube. If you haven't seen young stars like Joseph Gyau, Charlie Renken, Carlos Martinez, Stefan Jerome, and Luis Gil play, chances are you can find some footage of them on there. A good place to start might be the recent CONCACAF U-17 games, which they have posted in full!
The interesting case of 18-year-old Norwegian-American Mikkel Diskerud.
The even more interesting case of 29-year-old Italian-American Cristian Arrieta, who plays for the Puerto Rico Islanders of USL-1. The one-time Inter trialee has 15 goals in 41 games-- as a defender. He is currently second in the USL1's scoring charts, with 6 goals in 19 games this season. Surely some MLS team could use him?
Some good columns from SI. Check out the ones on African soccer and Javier Aguirre's Mexico. Apparently the South African league is set for a big-money boom after securing a 5-year, $165 million TV deal. By comparison, the broadcasting rights for the Scottish league will probably be resold for roughly half that amount.
And, finally, that crazy Falcao futsal video that is circulating around everywhere.
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The Developmental Academy games are available on the USSoccer website, if you want to see some young American players and can get the stupid video player to work. On that same note: USSoccer does a pretty good job with Youtube. If you haven't seen young stars like Joseph Gyau, Charlie Renken, Carlos Martinez, Stefan Jerome, and Luis Gil play, chances are you can find some footage of them on there. A good place to start might be the recent CONCACAF U-17 games, which they have posted in full!
_
The interesting case of 18-year-old Norwegian-American Mikkel Diskerud.
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The even more interesting case of 29-year-old Italian-American Cristian Arrieta, who plays for the Puerto Rico Islanders of USL-1. The one-time Inter trialee has 15 goals in 41 games-- as a defender. He is currently second in the USL1's scoring charts, with 6 goals in 19 games this season. Surely some MLS team could use him?
_
Some good columns from SI. Check out the ones on African soccer and Javier Aguirre's Mexico. Apparently the South African league is set for a big-money boom after securing a 5-year, $165 million TV deal. By comparison, the broadcasting rights for the Scottish league will probably be resold for roughly half that amount.
_
And, finally, that crazy Falcao futsal video that is circulating around everywhere.
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