The Best of the Rest

Bob Dillon is back and telling us that the times, they are a-changin' (sorry, awful joke), but the USMNT's depth is still no where close to that of the international elite.  He gives us a look at the best of the best who were left behind when preliminary rosters were announced.

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Growing the Depth

As I looked at Bob Bradley's selection of 30 players, the first thing that jumps to mind is that we have a legitimate group of internationally tested players to field a starting eleven in the World Cup. It seems a bit silly to say this, but we aren't too many World Cup cycles in the past where we were lucky to have a handful of European based players on the roster (see 2002 roster here). This says a ton about the growth of US Soccer including youth development, MLS, training facilities, the coaching staff, and collegiate soccer, but digging deeper into the list exposes the hard truth about the possibility of United States breaking into the top ten soccer countries, planting our flag, and saying that we are there for good.

The hard truth is that our depth still isn't close to the level it needs to be. During the announcements of the rosters from around the world yesterday is was clear that we were having a different conversation then the top soccer nations. The top nations were talking about which players who started UEFA Championship League soccer games didn't make the provisional 30 lists while the United States conversation was about trying to get an injured Charles Davies healthy and the selections of Edson Buddle, Robbie Rogers, and Robbie Findley. We can call the 2010 squad progress, but let's keep a global perspective about how things are growing. As a means of illustrating our need for depth, I quickly cobbled together a starting eleven, plus a bench of nine that will be playing as many minutes as me in this year's World Cup, zero. I would love to hear additions to my starting eleven, and I left some space on my bench for players that I missed. Also I totally blanked on keepers, so I am showing my hand in playing my boyhood idol, Brad Friedel.


Goalkeepers: Brad Friedel* (Aston Villa, USA), Manuel Almunia (Arsenal, uncapped)

Defenders: Alex* (Chelsea, Brazil), Alessandro Nesta* (AC Milan, Italy), Roberto Carlos* (Corinthians, Brazil), Edmilson (Real Zaragoza, Brazil)

Midfielders: Patrick Viera* (Manchester City, France), Francesco Totti* (Roma, Italy), Samir Nasri* (Arsenal, France), Ronaldinho* (AC Milan, Brazil), Diego* (Juventus, Brazil), Thiago Motta (Inter, uncapped), Javier Zanetti (Inter, Argentina), Esteban Cambiasso (Inter, Argentina), Owen Hargreaves (Manchester United, England)

Forwards: Karim Benzema* (Real Madrid, France), Pato* (AC Milan, Brazil), Luca Toni (Roma, Italy), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Hamburg, Netherlands), Adriano (Flamengo, Brazil)

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How do you think this team would fare if it were actually in the World Cup?  Any suggestions for Bob's roster?