Bob Bradley has released his 30-man roster for an upcoming camp next month. The roster is a heavy-MLS and Scandinavian based roster with loads of surprises for some folks out there. The roster will probably be trimmed down a bit for the Honduras friendly later next month on the 23rd.

Of the 30 players, 25 are from Major League Soccer with 13 of the 16 clubs represented. Good to see a few names on there like Kevin Alston from New England and Geoff Cameron from Houston.

Here is the roster:

GOALKEEPERS (4): Kevin Hartman (Kansas City), Troy Perkins (Valerenga), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake), Zach Thornton (Chivas USA)
DEFENDERS (8): Kevin Alston (New England Revolution), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Omar Gonzalez (Los Angeles Galaxy), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Heath Pearce (FC Dallas), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC)
MIDFIELDERS (12): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Alejandro Bedoya (Örebro), Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Jeff Larentowicz (New England Revolution), Dax McCarty (FC Dallas), Chris Pontius (D.C. United), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)
FORWARDS (6): Justin Braun (Chivas USA), Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids), Jeff Cunningham (FC Dallas), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Brandon McDonald (San Jose Earthquakes), Marcus Tracy (Aalborg)

Charlize Theron reacts to South Africa being drawn into Group A. (Getty Images)

The draw is over and now the time has begun for the endless talk and analysis of each group for the next six months. Yes the World Cup is miles away from today’s draw but we know now a lot of what could go on next summer in South Africa.

Some groups are down right ridiculous and others aren’t too shabby. It all of course depends on who you root for but for US fans I think many are happy with today’s outcome in South Africa. But more on that in a bit. I decided earlier in the day that once the groups would come out I would take a little time and give a quick review of each and a short prediction. Let me be the first to say I reserve the right to change my prediction for this tournament as much as I want here. I know I won’t get everything right but I’m willing to try.

Now for the groups. Continue Reading…

Well the US is going to Group C for next year’s World Cup in South Africa and the draw is very favorable.

I’ll be back later today with more thoughts on this but first here are all the groups, feel free to discuss.

Group A
-South Africa
-Mexico
-Uruguay
-France

Group B
-Argentina
-Nigeria
-South Korea
-Greece

Group C
-England
-USA
-Algeria
-Slovenia

Group D
-Germany
-Australia
-Serbia
-Ghana

Group E
-Netherlands
-Denmark
-Japan
-Cameroon

Group F
-Italy
-Paraguay
-New Zealand
-Slovakia

Group G
-Brazil
-North Korea
-Ivory Coast
-Portugal

Group H
-Spain
-Switzerland
-Honduras
-Chile

I guess the late season run for FC Dallas helped cash things in for a couple guys as Bob Bradley named a handful of FC Dallas players to his 22-man roster for the Slovakia friendly later this month.

Also the loss of Columbus in the playoffs meant callups for a few Crew players as well.

To me though the big news may be the re-call of Eddie Johnson, someone we haven’t seen called into action in a very long time. For some though it is definitely the lack of calling up Freddy Adu.

Here is the full 22-man squad selected for Slovakia:

GOALKEEPERS- Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton), Troy Perkins (Valerenga)

DEFENDERS- Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Heath Pearce (FC Dallas), Jonathan Spector (West Ham)

MIDFIELDERS- Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Dax McCarty (FC Dallas), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)

FORWARDS- Jozy Altidore (Hull City), Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids), Jeff Cunningham (FC Dallas), Eddie Johnson (Fulham)

Happy with this roster? Think Johnson or Cunningham are going to get any playing time over Jozy or Casey?

Will we see more of Conor Casey with the US National Team? (Getty Images)

Good evening folks, I hope everyone is having a good day. Now that we are in the evening it is time once again for some links and thoughts. I only have two items tonight and really only one link.

My first thought of the night centers around the US Men’s National team and their upcoming friendlies this month in Europe. Bob Bradley should announce in the next couple weeks his roster for both the Denmark and Slovakia games.

Most people believe Bradley will use these games, as well as a couple more in January and probably in March to really fill out his roster for next summer. Both Denmark and Slovakia present their own challenges and I will try to go into that on another post down the road. The big concern right now is in the back for the US and up top. Injuries play a factor in why Bradley needs these friendlies to fill the holes as does playing time with one’s clubs.

Most figure it will be a good mix of MLS players, those not in the MLS Cup hunt, and a sprinkle of European players since the games are on European soil. More than likely Bradley won’t be able to get his biggest needs met this month though because of the MLS playoffs. Guys he will want to see more of like Stuart Holden, Chad Marshall, and even Sacha Kljestan are all still playing with their clubs in hopes for a MLS Cup.

Now things could happen and clubs could lose which may help Bradley. More than likely he will call a few surprises from the league here and some are hoping for players like Jeff Cunningham or even a Robbie Findley to be called to try out at striker. I honestly don’t want either called for that role. Sure both had a good season but they seem more fit for a January call at home than a call right now on the road. I really want to see more of Conor Casey or Kenny Cooper with Jozy Alitdore up top than Bradley trying out Findley for a game.

These two games are important since they are in Europe but I wouldn’t be at all shocked to see Bradley put out a B squad more than an A squad here. At the end of the day I just hope the squad put on the field does well and gets a quality result on European soil.

Continue Reading…

The US national team is already headed to Denmark in November and could possibly play another World Cup qualified side a few days later. While the US hasn’t announced it’s second friendly for November, reports out of Europe suggest that the Americans will take on Slovakia on Nov. 14.

Slovakia qualified for the World Cup after topping a qualifying group that included Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Poland. Not bad huh?

I think these two friendlies are exactly the type the US needs going into next year’s World Cup. Slovakia is very underrated in my opinion and could pose an unique challenge to the US.

What do you make of the possibilities of playing Slovakia?

Its a pretty full night here at WVHooligan as far as the links and thoughts go. I have a couple stories that kind of make my head spin, a couple surrounding the US national team and a brief discussion on a rule that could really help some young players out with the NCAA.

First up is a post I saw earlier today that I felt needed to be held off until today. It centers on an issue that a lot of non-soccer folks have with our beloved game. Draws. No one likes them and a lot of MLS clubs have plenty of them to go around this season.

This author decided pointed out in a way that I still kind of agree with him on that there are too many teams getting playoff births in MLS. Its an issue that has been surrounding this league since year one for that matter. But at the same time as the league expands its should be a non-issue.

But the solution to “make MLS more exciting” isn’t a bad one. Simplify the playoffs into a four-team, three-game deal. But the more I think about that and the more I see how the league is doing with it’s current eight-team set up going into the final week of the season (with seven clubs in contention for three spots), I think the current set-up is fine. The drama that the league has created is good going into the final week of the season and it will only continue to get better from here on out as the league grows.

If it were the top four clubs going into the playoffs or even the best two from each conference we’d already know three of the four and it would sadly rule out three really good clubs from one conference from getting in.

It took a while for the league to get to the point that it is at but this playoff set up of eight clubs isn’t so bad after all. It does however need tweaking in it’s structure of number of games and what not but that is a discussion for another day. Continue Reading…