No, don’t worry. The United States is not expected to play Cuba and Trinidad & Tobago at the same time, just within 5 days of each other. Anyway, Coach Bradley has announced his roster of 20 players for the brace of games. Many of the usual criticisms are applicable once again (Where’s Adu and Altidore? Eddie Johnson? Where’s Cooper?), and a few new ones crop up. I’ll stick with the latter.
1. Why Michael Orozco? Look, I’m not generally in favor of blacklisting a guy from the national team for one bad performance, but Orozco’s different. Not only did he have one really bad three-minute stretch that played a significant part in getting us knocked out of the Olympics, but he played two at-best-mediocre games before that. In fact, I’ll be honest — he had one terrible game and one that was just bad. How does that justify a call-up to the full national team? I know that we’re somewhat thin at the sideback position at the moment, but this move stumps me anyway.
2. On the other hand, I’m happy to see that Marvell Wynne has gotten the call. On a list of all the players on the Olympic team that earned a further look from the full national team, I’d put Wynne at or near the top. Just add some technique to that natural talent and athleticism, and Wynne could be a real force.
3. Will Ching, Johnson, or Dempsey be able to make an impact? Okay, this isn’t a new question, but it’s so pressing, I can’t help but mention it again. We desperately need someone who can play a meaningful role up top, preferably with Landon Donovan (earth to Bradley: Donovan disappears when he plays on the right!). I’m losing faith that these guys can, but it looks like Bradley isn’t.
Anyway, we should get at least 4 points from these two matches. Anything less will be a disappointment.
