With the recent transfer of Charlie Davies from Hammarby to Sochaux, he is now leaving the Gold Cup squad to join up with his new team. He is now the fourth player to leave the squad.
The other three were Freddy Adu, Micheal Parkhurst, and Steve Churundolo.
The loss of Davies leaves a US attacking group that is a little toothless. Ching, Cooper and Santino Quaranta are the remaining forwards in the squad while Jozy Altidore can be brought in if necessary. I doubt Altidore comes back, as he will either be returning to Villareal, or moving on loan to another club to gain playing time. Cooper hasn’t had a great tournament and Ching is returning from an injury which will lessen the power of the attacking duo for the rest of the tournament.
Freddy Adu’s return to Benfica happened last week and his absence really won’t be missed. He has had a mediocre tournament in his two appearances and did not climb the mountain like I hoped he would. He had a few moments of skill, but even more moments of disappointment. He will need to find playing time somewhere, and should be loaned out again. The best move for him would be to move to a club in Sweden, or Denmark where he can get playing time, and slowly build his confidence back up to where it should be.
Micheal Parkhurst was not on his best form in this tournament, and did not help his cause for playing time with the US Men’s National Team as the other centerbacks in the player’s pool look stronger and stronger. He moved back to his club in Denmark, Nordsjaelland.
Steve Cherundolo was good in the tournament, providing some great crosses and anchoring that right side of the defense. He will be missed, as the other right backs in the squad are pretty meagre. Brad Evans has played a few games there, but he is a natural midfielder, while Jay Heaps’ performance against Haiti shows that he is not of USMNT quality. Sam Cronin has played a few games as a right back for Toronto.
Of note as well is the absence of Benny Feilhaber, who was brought in for two games from the extra players allotted to the US team for their performance in the Confederations Cup. He has moved back to his club as well so that he could begin preseason training.
This is how I see the team lining up in the Semi-Finals.
Ching——–Cooper
Rogers—————–Beckerman————-Cronin—————-Holden
Pearce——————–Marshall—————–Conrad—————-Evans
–Perkins–
The midfield is still very good, and Holden has been a beast recently, so I still think the team reaches the final, but I don’t know if they can become champion without more of a strike force, and better right back.
