A post for the ages

In the wake of an unmitigated disaster of a Gold Cup final, fans and journalists have been heaping criticism on the coach Bob Bradley for everything from roster decisions (the selection of the original 22 left many scratching their heads, as did Bradley's decisions about who to start and who to substitute) to failing to properly motivate his group. The players, for their part, looked at no point as if they actually wanted to win the Gold Cup, and have received their share of blame as well. The criticism, while almost always deserved, has not always been constructive. What is obvious is that the US is still searching for the right mix of players, and needs to be getting younger and better at the same time.

While every fan or pundit has their favorites as well as their dogs, there are a couple of principles with which we should all be able to agree. The first is that we need to be giving meaningful experience to young talent, and the second is that players who will be at least 30 when the next world cup starts, who are not already in the national team picture, should not be given the time of day. With these axioms in mind, below is a list of (younger) USMNT pool players and their ages.

18
Juan Agudelo (F)
Bobby Wood (F)

19
Gale Agbossoumonde (D)
Conor Doyle (F)

20
Mikel Diskerud (M)
Alex Zahavi (M/F)

21
Jozy Altidore (F)
Teal Bunbury (F)
Timmy Chandler (D/M)
Brek Shea (M)
Tony Taylor (F)

22
Freddy Adu (M/F)
Diego Chavarri (D/M)
Omar Gonzalez (D)
Sean Johnson (G)
Eric Lichaj (D)
Eugene Starikov (M)


23
Michael Bradley (M)
Tim Ream (D)
Jose Torres (M)

24
Alejandro Bedoya (M)
Edgar Castillo (D)
Dominic Cervi (G)
Chris Pontius (M/F)
Robbie Rogers (M)

25
Geoff Cameron (D/M)
Charlie Davies (F)
Maurice Edu (M)
Robbie Findley (F)
Stuart Holden (M)
Sacha Klejstan (M)
Jonathan Spector (D)

26
Jonathan Bornstein (D)
Benny Feilhaber (M)
Brad Guzan (G)
Ryan Miller (D)

Let me know if I have left any important players off this list. I am trying to get the best possible picture of our player pool before taking a look at who should and should not have been on the Gold Cup roster, and who should and should not be on the roster for the WCQ campaign beginning next year.