U.S. coach Bob Bradley decided that even with Charlie Davies’s remarkable recovery from a near-fatal car crash seven months ago, that he was not ready to play in a World Cup game. So Bradley left Davies off his 30-man U.S. preliminary roster today. Also left off the list are Colorado forward Conor Casey and Freddy Adu.
Included in the U.S. squad are Edson Buddle of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Herculez Gomez of Mexico’s Puebla and Eddie Johnson was scored three goals for Aris in the Greek playoffs.
Buddle and Gomez were by far the biggest surprises, due to their lack of national team play in qualifying rounds. Buddle has made just one appearance for the national team, playing 11 minutes as a substitute in a friendly seven years ago. Gomez, played twice for the national team for a total of 67 minutes three years ago in the Copa America.
One major weakness of the U.S. at major tournaments has been its inability to score goals, and that is something that Buddle and Gomez have been dong this year. Buddle leads Major League Soccer with nine goals and Gomez became the first American to lead the Mexican league in scoring, tying for top spot with 10 goals.
The squad:
Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton), Tim Howard (Everton).
Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Jay DeMerit (Watford), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Chad Marshall (Columbus), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan), Heath Pearce (Dallas), Jonathan Spector (West Ham).
Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley (Rangers), Alejandro Bedoya (Orebro), Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Ricardo Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus), Stuart Holden (Bolton), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Robbie Rogers (Columbus), Jose Torres (Pachuca).
Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Hull), Edson Buddle (Los Angeles), Brian Ching (Houston), Robbie Findley (Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez (Puebla), Eddie Johnson (Aris).
What do you think of Bradley’s preliminary squad?
