Perspectives on the Gold Cup Callups

(Note: Again, I’ve been trying to get this up for a while, but technical glitches have stopped me)

There’s really two ways to look at the Gold Cup Callups: as an MLS fan, or as a USA fan.

For MLS fans, it’s good and bad. The league saw 36 total callups, seven of which were for the US. The strong signs here are obvious: our league’s pool is one which is considered more internationally relevant. However, this is a mixed blessing, as teams will be left with major holes. We’ll get to that later. Callups by team are as follows:

Chicago Fire:
Marco Pappa – Guatemala

Chivas USA:
Alejandro Moreno – Venezuela

Colorado Rapids:
Sanna Nyassi – Gambia
Omar Cummings – Jamaica
Tyrone Marshall – Jamaica

Columbus Crew:
Robbie Rogers – USA

DC United:
Dejan Jakovic – Canada

FC Dallas:
None

Houston Dynamo:
Andre Hainault – Canada
Jermaine Taylor – Jamaica
Je-Vaughn Watson – Jamaica

LA Galaxy:
Donovan Ricketts – Jamaica
Landon Donovan – USA

New England Revolution:
Shalrie Joseph – Grenada
Benny Feilhaber – USA

Philadelphia Union:
Carlos Ruiz – Guatemala

Portland Timbers:
Steve Purdy – El Salvador
Mamadou “Futty” Danso – Gambia
Jake Gleeson – New Zealand

Real Salt Lake:
Will Johnson – Canada
Álvaro Saborío – Costa Rica
Arturo Alvarez – El Salvador
Nick Rimando – USA

Red Bull New York:
Dwayne De Rosario – Canada
Dane Richards – Jamaica
Rafa Márquez – Mexico
Juan Agudelo – USA
Tim Ream – USA

San Jose Earthquakes:
Ryan Johnson – Jamaica
Chris Wondolowski – USA

Seattle Sounders:
Álvaro Fernández – Uruguay

Sporting Kansas City:
Craig Rocastle – Grenada
Stéphane Auvray – Guadeloupe
Roger Espinoza – Honduras
Shavar Thomas – Jamaica

Toronto FC:
Julian de Guzman – Canada
Joao Plata – Ecuador
Dicoy Williams – Jamaica

Vancouver Whitecaps:
Terry Dunfield – Canada

Again, each of these big names means a lot to their respective clubs, and there will be big holes to fill. Take, for example, New York, who will be losing almost half of their starting roster, and some of their most dominant players in both the offense (Juan Agudelo, DeRo, Dane Richards) and defense (Rafa Marquez, Tim Ream). The same goes for Colorado, Houston, Portland, RSL, and Sporting, who will all be losing three or more players. Even little San Jose, who will only part with two, will need to be able to prove that it won’t completely flounder without the help of its star forward Chris Wondolowski, who is known for carrying his team on his back.

Seeing how each club’s coaching staff adjusts their rosters will be interesting, and will be a sure test of depth. Honestly, I’m not sure that either New York, San Jose, RSL, or Sporting will be able to recover, as the losses they face are deep and their benches don’t provide enough cover. Still, it is important to consider that all teams save Dallas will be giving up players, so this will be a disadvantage that many share.

Then, there’s the US fan perspective. I know that this is an MLS blog, and I know that much of our fanbase supports nations besides America, but, well, I’m American and this is my blog. There is a lot to consider about the US roster, and its decisions in terms of both whom to add and whom to drop were dicey. The roster, including its seven MLS callups, is as follows:

GOALKEEPERS (3): Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Tim Howard (Everton), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS (8): Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Etienne), Jonathan Bornstein (UANL Tigres), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Eric Lichaj (Leeds), Oguchi Onyewu (FC Twente), Tim Ream (Red Bulls), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)
MIDFIELDERS (9): Freddy Adu (Rizespor), Michael Bradley (Aston Villa), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (New England Revolution), Jermaine Jones (Blackburn Rovers), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)
FORWARDS (3): Juan Agudelo (Red Bulls), Jozy Altidore (Bursaspor), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)

The surprises here are obvious, and Freddy Adu is a good place to start. The former next Pele has been doing fairly well recently with his second division Turkish club (and I say fairly with a large grain of salt given his previous performances), but few agree with this callup. It isn’t that he’ll do bad; he may end up being terrible, and there’s a very good chance he’ll do well. He’s still very young, and has a lot of potential. He just isn’t whom I would choose over a large number of options.

This could have included Teal Burnbury, Alejandro Bedoya, Hercules Gomez, Edson Buddle,and Brek Shea, among an extensive list of fellow snubs. Some have looked at Bob Bradley’s choices and said that it reflects a small pool of talent; I say that it reflects the ignorance of an ocean of players right under our noses. Perhaps ol’ Bob is looking to tinker and try out new players, but this is hardly the place to do so, as when we (hopefully, though probably) face Mexico in the final, they won’t be holding anything back (*Cough* Chicharito *Cough*).

Other surprises include the inclusion of Chris Wondolowski, but I’m actually not going to complain about this one. It may just be that he’s another MLS name to add to the list, but it goes without saying that Wondo can score a goal, and that’s exactly what the US needs. I may not be sure if he can do it at the international level in the same way he does at home, but we’re all going to have to have faith.

This faith, however, will have to go beyond Chris Wondolowski and extend to both our (or my) country and our MLS clubs, as the Gold Cup callups will leave a maze of gaps in almost all rosters, and could prove to be decidedly hit or miss in this summer’s Gold Cup.

What do you think?

Other surpise additions include Chris Wondolowski,

Category: MLS