The Day After: Trusting Bob on Ching

Well, as you all know by now, the final World Cup roster was announced yesterday by way of a cheesy, slightly awkward ceremony at ESPN's campus in Bristol, Connecticut.  While the actual announcement process drew a fair share of remarks similar to my own, I think we can all agree at least that it was pretty cool that ESPN put something like this together for what once flew under the radar of the average sports fan.

There really weren't any big surprises on the roster other than the exclusion of Brian Ching and the inclusion of Real Salt Lake striker Robbie Findley.  Many pundits and fans expected that the big Hawaiian would be one of the final 23 standing prior to yesterday's announcement, which dashed his hopes of making a second World Cup squad and simultaneously ended my hopes of using puntastic headlines such as "Cha-Ching" or "Ching Kong" in June or July.

Initially, I felt this was an awful decision by Bradley, opting to bring an inexperienced striker who showed few encouraging signs in his three international appearances this year over an experienced player who has effectively filled his role with the national team throughout the cycle.  What particularly puzzled me was that Bradley would decide against bringing a target forward after having so frequently utilized that role in his tenure (Ching or Conor Casey started 7 of 10 Hex qualifiers and appeared as subs in one other Hex qualifier and four of the five Confederations Cup matches).   Needless to say, I was very surprised and, to be honest, angry about this choice.

But that's why you should never post when your angry.  Following the cue of our friend over at WVHooligan, I decided to give myself a night to think about the roster decision before jumping to any wild conclusions (back in the box, you go).  After giving it some more thought and closer examination, I've come to a point where I can at least say that I trust Bob's judgment on this one.

I was impressed with Ching's performance against the Czech Republic; he put himself in good spots, held up the ball well, and connected with his teammates well.  Naturally, this only added to the surprise that was to come.  Yesterday, in response to the Ching snub, I saw a couple of people (most notably Grant Wahl of SI.com) cite a second half 2 v. 2 where Ching didn't exactly look comfortable when making a supporting run, which was most likely the product of his relatively recent hamstring injury.  At first, I was tempted to look past this, as speed has never really been a part of Ching's game.  But then I realized that an less than full-strength hamstring could still have substantial implications for someone whose game is less speed-dependent.

Clearly, to think otherwise was a little naive on my part, which mostly comes from the fact that I have been fortunate enough not to have dealt with a hamstring injury throughout the years (knocks on wood).  But when you think about it, while a weak hamstring might be masked by some hold up play and one touch passing, it becomes an issue when the ball is up in the air.  If Ching isn't able to battle in the air for long balls from the back or crosses from the wing due to a lesser leap, that's a pretty significant part of his game that is missing.  When I think back to the Czech Republic friendly, I can't recall too many instances of Ching battling in the air, which may explain why it slipped my mind to begin with. 

As much as we all love to play doctors when we hear of an injury and timetable for recovery, the US Soccer staff (Bob Bradley included) have the best idea of where a player stands through the training and testing that most of us are not privy to.  If Ching's hamstring was limiting aspects of his game (some of which were not glaringly obvious on Tuesday night), Bob knew about it.  So, it seems as if the decision came down to a choice between a somewhat limited Brian Ching and a healthy, speedy Robbie Findley as the fourth striker.  Bob chose the latter, and all we can do is just trust his judgment on this one.  No one knows the players better than he does, and, despite his hordes of critics, Bradley has been pretty successful when it matters most.  So, just take a deep breath and believe in Bob.  It's also worth mentioning that Jozy Altidore's hold up play has improved a good deal thanks to his time at Hull, where he was often left on an island up top with little support, which may have factored in to the final decision.

When it comes down to it, I really don't expect to see much of Findley in the World Cup (that is, if we even see him on the field at all).  With DaMarcus Beasley's resurgence and Stuart Holden's quality, Bradley has the freedom to push Landon Donovan up top late in a match if a goal is needed and/or speed at striker is desired (after all, no one is a better "speed" player on this roster).  The presence of Edson Buddle and Herculez Gomez could also mean that there's not even room on the bench for the former Oregon State standout.  Nevertheless, I'm holding out hope that Findley can do more than he did in his previous caps should he find himself on the field in South Africa.

Whether I think he's international material or not at this point, I want to say that I am happy for Findley, who has been very humble and appreciative about his selection.  As much as he has been almost vilified for "taking" Brian Ching's spot, we have to remember that he didn't pick himself, Bob did, so we should only be congratulating Robbie on what is really one of the greatest personal achievements that any professional soccer player can hope to attain. 

The World Cup begins in two weeks, and with the final roster selected, it's time that we put all of our support behind each and every one of the 23 players that will be representing the Stars and Stripes, whether we think they should be there or not.  I fully expect that to be the case, but I figure a reminder never hurts considering some (myself included at one point) were pretty upset about the one big surprise from yesterday's roster announcement.