Thursday, June 25, 2009
Clark In; Casey and Pablo Available For Rapids
Gary Smith will be part relieved and part disconcerted by today's announcement of the final 23-man US squad for the Gold Cup. Fearing he may be losing both Pablo Mastroeni and leading goalscorer, Conor Casey, for the July 3-26 tournament, he will be mightily relieved that neither of those two made the final squad having been named in the preliminary 30-man set-up. Casey will therefore return to DSG Park after this Sunday's Confederations' Cup Final and be available for the July 4 game against Chicago and beyond. Mastroeni also looks set for a long run in the Rapids' team, World Cup qualifiers aside. Smith may, however, be less than pleased that Colin Clark is in the Gold Cup squad. Happy one of his young players has been officially recognized but mindful of the fact he will be losing a vital left-sided cog who has played every minute of every club game this season. Great news for Clark who will be trying to build on his only experience of the national team set-up so far, last year's training camp ahead of the World Cup qualifier in Colorado against Guatemala. More to follow on this and last night's 1-1 draw against Dallas. Let me know what you think of Bob Bradley's squad for the Gold Cup.
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3 comments:
I'm glad to see Clark get called up - he has been steadily improving for three seasons now and I very much look forward to seeing what he can do on the international stage. I really hope he actually gets some quality minutes.
I like that Bradley is bringing in a younger squad for the Gold Cup. the fact is, Mexico is bringing in a "B-Team" and this tournament holds much less value this year so it will be a great opportunity for some younger US players to get real international experience. Look what that kind of thing did for guys like Feilhaber and Ricardo Clark.
Of course this all begs the question....who starts for the Rapids on the left wing now??
No other obvious left-sided player now they got rid of Guerrero. Peterson is perhaps the most obvious choice. Cooke maybe. It's a tough one as Clark has no real competition for that spot. Could Jordan Harvey do it, moving up from defense to midfield? He is speedy but lacks the dribbling skills of Clark. Kimura has played wing, though, so it's not impossible. A bit too risky probably. I think GS will opt for Peterson.
It is an interesting situation that the Rapisd find themselves in now with Clark getting called up. I think the advantage of having Pablo and Connor in the line up will make it not as bad as it could have been if all three had gotten called in. Ouchey just thinking about it.
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