Pre-Panama musings

So it doesn't appear that any of the seven extras will be called in for the USMNT's Gold Cup quarterfinal against Panama this Saturday, since I'm assuming the MNT blog would have told us when they posted the updated roster. This leaves us with even less options than we had against Haiti, since Charlie Davies, Steve Cherundolo, and Michael Parkhurst will be back with their clubs by then for preseason. Granted, Parkhurst was suspended anyways for yellow card accumulation, but it leaves us stretched in the back and up front.

As for who I'd like to see...

-----------Perkins-----------
Pearce-Conrad(C)-Marshall-Evans
-----------Beckerman---------
Rogers-------Arnaud--------Holden
----Ching/Cooper---Quaranta----

Luis Robles' performance against Haiti showed that Troy Perkins in goal is an automatic pick. The back 4 pretty much picks itself at this point- Brad Evans did well enough against Haiti and Grenada to keep the right back spot. Robbie Rogers, Kyle Beckerman, and Stuart Holden are all locks in the midfield, and I think Davy Arnaud could do well in a central role. He looked better than Logan Pause and Sam Cronin, so he gets my vote. And up top, there aren't really that many choices. Knowing Bob Bradley, Brian Ching will get the start, but either him or Kenny Cooper partnering Santino Quaranta up top is fine with me. I'm a huge Kenny Cooper fan, but he didn't do enough against Haiti to pull him ahead of Ching.

If we make it through to the semifinals, Bob Bradley has to call up some of the extra 7. The roster just isn't deep enough for him not to.