more than likely going to look like? I know that Davies is definitely ruled out and the Oneywu injury will probably keep him out too. 2 crucial blows to the team as we saw in the last WC, and some qualifying, how important Oneywu is to this team. Who else is more than likely going to start up front with Altidore?
I don't think Onyewu is ruled out. He's projected to return to Milan in March and should be ready to go. Last we heard from Davies, he said doctors said they were looking forward to watching him on the pitch in South Africa. I think Davies is a long shot, but Onyewu is in for me. For a Davies replacement, there isn't anyone with the combo of size and strength. There are guys who have one but not the other. Ideally, Robbie Rogers would step up and allow Donovan to go along with Altidore, but I don't see that happening. The more likely way to go is Dempsey going up top with Altidore and Holden starting on the right. I think that's our best bet. The other possibility is the 4-5-1 empty bucket where either Maurice Edu or Jermaine Jones start as a defensive mid and Michael Bradley and Benny Feilhaber are the central mids.
I don't know how severe Onyewu's injury was, but it seems like athletes aren't quite right for at least half a year after having a big injury to their leg. Not sure how other soccer players have done, but I'd still be worried with him. As for Davies, his injuries were really severe with multiple breaks and other ugly injuries, there's no way Davies is going to be back, and definitely not into form by the WC. I'm not really familiar with Robbie Rogers, is he a younger player or just new to the national team?
guys who will be on the team definitely at this point are donovan, dempsey, howard, guzan, altidore, bradley, feilhaber, bocanegra, cherundolo, spector, and bornstein. demerit, edu, and jermaine jones are guys who will be on the team assuming they play reasonably well after returning from injury. onyewu will be on the team if healthy, but his return seems more questionable. holden and torres seem pretty safe bets to be on the roster too. that makes 17 guys(i'm including onyewu for now). add one for the 3rd goalie and it's 18. after that it's hard to say who gets the last 5 spots.
I think its time for Freddy to start thinking about Brazil in 2014 and getting his act together so he can play at the club level. It might be time for him to swallow some pride and put the tail firmly between his legs and return to MLS. Here's my 23 man roster at the moment: Starting XI: GK - Tim Howard DR - Jonathan Spector DL - Jonathan Bornstein DC - Oguchi Onyewu DC - Carlos Bocanegra MR - Stuart Holden ML - Landon Donovan MC - Michael Bradley MC - Benny Feilhaber FC - Jozy Altidore FC - Clint Dempsey Bench: GK - Brad Guzan GK - Troy Perkins DR - Steve Cherundolo DL - Edgar Castillo DC - Jay DeMerit DC - Chad Marshall MR - Jose Francisco Torres ML - Robbie Rogers MC - Maurice Edu MC - Ricardo Clark FC - Robbie Findley FC - Marcus Tracy Tracy is clearly the wild card, but if he continues starting and playing well in Denmark, he will have a shot. The camp in January will be a big deal as it will give the MLS and Scandinavian fringe players a real shot. That's where Perkins, Rogers, Findley, and Tracy will have their best shots at making the squad for South Africa. The other major variable here is the Charlie Davies comeback. He said he'd be running by March and in game shape for June. I would doubt it, but if he is, it would be a huge lift for this team and it would take Findley off the squad.
If I had read anything that would indicate that he would be capable of running by then, he'd be with Bradley starting in midfield. However, whatever surgery he had seems to have gone horribly wrong as he still has a stress fracture in his leg. If he's healthy, he's in. I'm just not sure he will be.
This is pretty sad that Davies had to get hurt like he did. He was really emerging into a force with Altidore but the type of fractures and internal injuries worry me for the upcoming WC. I just have a hard time seeing him end up bringing the same effect to the field he did before not even a year after his accident.
