18-Man Roster For Qualifier Exhibition Against T&T Announced

October 13th, 2008 | by: Brooks Peck |

As GS mentioned in the comments yesterday, Bob Bradley has named the 18 men he’s taking to Trinidad for Wednesday’s match. Here’s who will make the trip:

U.S. ROSTER VS. TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

GOALKEEPERS (2): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa: 2/2 SO), Troy Perkins (Valerenga IF: 0/0)

DEFENDERS (6): Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA: 0/0), Danny Califf (FC Midtjylland: 2/0), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew: 13/1), Michael Orozco (San Luis: 0/0), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock: 6/0), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC: 0/0)

MIDFIELDERS (7): Freddy Adu (AS Monaco: 3/0), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers: 20/6), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers: 3/0), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA: 4/0), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids: 11/0), Danny Szetela (Brescia Calcio: 1/0) José Francisco Torres (Pachuca: 1/0)

FORWARDS (3): Jozy Altidore (Villarreal C.F.: 1/1), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF: 0/0), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew: 0/0)

*numbers indicate all-time World Cup Qualifying caps/goals

New additions: Marvell Wynne, Robbie Rogers, Jonathan Bornstein, and Pablo Mastroeni

Missing: Carlos Bocanegra, Michael Bradley, Steve Cherundolo, Brian Ching (thank Jebus), Jay DeMerit, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Tim Howard, and Oguchi Onyewu

Blatantly missing: KENNY COOPER, WHO SCORED TWO MORE GOALS FOR DALLAS ON SATURDAY, GIVING HIM 18 GOALS ON THE SEASON (ONE LESS THAN LEAGUE-LEADER LANDYCAKES)

UPDATE: As Brett so kindly mentioned in the comments below, Kenny Cooper was, in fact, called by Bob for this match, but declined the invite. Cooper told The FCD Blog: “I made the difficult decision to pass on this opportunity because I had picked up a virus and have been playing with a sprained ankle. Considering the importance of my club’s game versus Real Salt Lake this week, and that the National Team has already clinched a berth in the next round of qualifying, I felt it was the right thing to do to stay in Dallas and make sure I get well, and hopefully there will be other opportunities down the line.” So there you go. Can’t blame Bob for this one.

UPDATE II: And as GS said in the comments below, Mastroeni and Robbie Rogers have been dropped from the squad and replaced with midfielder Brian Carroll and forward Chris Rolfe. Both Mastroeni and Rogers suffered injuries on Sunday — a knee knock for Pablo and a sore back for Robbie.

Obviously, with advancement to the final round of World Cup Qualifying sealed, Bob Bradley wants to see what he has with some of these younger players. It’ll be nice to see more of all of these guys, but if you had it your way, who would start out of this bunch?

Also, we will once again be live blogging this match, so be sure to join us Wednesday night at 8 pm ET.

Photo credit: isiphotos.com

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BMatthews

hahaha, Blatently missing! Kenny must be shitting himself this morning.
dream XI:

——-Guzan——–
Frankie-Pearce-Orozco
——–Edu———
-Sacha-Torres-Pablo-
—Adu—-Beasley—
——-Jozy———
JDunn

Maybe Kenny Cooper had sex with Bradley’s wife and therefore Bradley won’t ever select him. I also hope they bring enough beer for Frankie. He has to be the soccer version of Wade Boggs on long flights
Brett

FYI, Cooper turned down the invite to the NT. Do yer research!
Pseudinho

———–Guzan———-
Wynne–Edu–Califf–Pearce
—–Szetela—Pablo——
Sacha——Adu—–Beasley
———-Jozy————

Subs
45 min – Torres for Beasley
60 min – Rogers for Sacha
75 min – Davies for Jozy
BMatthews

Brett, you can’t just drop that bomb and walk away.
Wild Bill

Yes Kenny Cooper ever so gracefully denied himself a chance on the US national team to get ready for the ever so important MLS playoff run. Hmm MLS playoff run vs. World Cup 2010 qualification run. I guess they seem pretty even…not. Maybe Bradley knows what he is doing and Coopers the one who needs to get his priorities straight. Anyway I love the roster and the opportunities that the young guns will get. Definitely getting pumped for Wednesday!!!! Go USA!
Brett

He said he was nursing an ankle injury and may have a virus. I’m not going to comment on whether or not I think that is true, but the fact that he said that IS true. We’ll see him in the January camp.
GS

I already said my piece about the roster…but I definitely feel the need to chime in on this Coop Issue….

Dude is straight up out of his mind. It has been a struggle getting call-ups for him and when he finally gets his chance he gives lame excuses and declines? I don’t care if you’re sick. I don’t care if your ankle hurts. If you ever want to play for the national team you jump at any chance they give you!! As another poster stated WCQ >> MLS Play-offs. And to the person who said “we’ll see him in the january camp” don’t be so sure about that. Coaches don’t take players declining a chance to play for the national team lightly. Also, considering the fact that it seems Ching, Donovan, Dempsey, Altidore and Davies would all get call-ups for available Forward positions before Cooper would I don’t think we’ll be seeing Kenny anytime soon in a USMNT kit.

Most players play soccer their whole lives for the chance to play for the national team. In fact, unless you’re a superstar, if the national team isn’t your top priority when you have the chance to play most managers won’t ever call you up again.

If Kenny ever cared about playing for the national team this was a very very very bad decision for him to make.
elle

just when you think Papa Bradley is going for youth….you realize Frankie Hejduk is still on the roster. but i’ll take it in exchange for no more Brian “open-goal-again” Ching.
I hope we get the chance to see what Freddy, Torres, and Jozy can do together
Pseudinho

Marvell Wynne should get some play at right back, sadly Frankie Hejduk will get the start.
kyle

First off Kenny Cooper made the right decision in showing his committment to the team that puts food on his table. Second if he’s not at full health why should he go and risk getting further injured or not playing his best and therefore hurting his chances to impress and get called in again. Shit last time he scored a damn goal and it took this long for him to get called back. Imagine if he missed some of the attempts Ching has had in the past few games, he would never get called again. I commend his decision of staying and trying to get his club team into the playoffs rather than going to play in 1 or 2 meaningless WCQ’s. His 18 goals in MLS should stake his claim well enough. I don’t think anymore needs to be said on the Cooper issue as he will be called in for the January friendlies.
kyle

And now on to the lineup that I would like to see.

Guzano
Wynne Califf Orozco Bstein
Szetela Edu Torres
Adu
Jozy Davies

With the options and players wwe have available this is what I would like to see mainly because all of the players would benefit from playing more at this level.
I wouldn’t see any problem preventing this lineup putting big points on the board.
GS

For those who have not heard…pablo and robbie were dropped from the squad as pablo has a bad knee and robbie has a bad back. I hope this doesn’t sound mean but I’m really happy about this. Pablo will be replaced by the rarely capped brian carroll and robbie by chris rolfe.

I say this is good news because odds are pablo will be replaced by a player I would like to see more of…Torres…and because Jozy will start no doubt and could go the full 90. I am very excited about Torres and want to see more of him and obviously Jozy is a joy to watch and will make the game that much more enjoyable to watch.
Marlon

Torres isn’t a D-Mid. Bob will probably give the start to Mo.
GS

I already had Mo in the starting line-up. Obviously Torres isn’t going to play defensive mid.