Holden on to the class

By defeating Honduras on Thursday night, the United States men’s national team set up another meeting with arch rivals Mexico, and ensured that they will play in a second international tournament final in as many months. The two CONCACAF powerhouses will face off on Sunday in the 2009 Gold Cup final, a regional tournament that includes teams from North and Central America as well as Caribbean islands. The upcoming match is a rematch of the 2007 Gold Cup final, but the United States team could not be more different from the one that defeated Mexico two years ago. In 2007 coach Bob Bradley chose to prioritize the Gold Cup over the more prestigious Copa America (the regional tournament for South American teams) and used his best players throughout the tournament to win the CONCACAF competition. The consequence of calling up the A squad so early in the summer was that Bradley was forced to call up an entirely new squad for the Copa America, and having already exhausted his A squad he had no choice but to bring his B/C squad to South America. Predictably the US took a beating at the South American tournament, but retrospectively Bradley made an astute decision to focus on the Gold Cup because it led to the USMNT’s qualification for the Confederations Cup, and consequential extraordinary victories over Egypt and Spain.

This summer Bradley took the opposite approach and decided to take his A squad to the more prestigious tournament, the Confederations Cup, and brought his B/C squad to the Gold Cup. The USMNT has put on a display of it’s depth during the 2009 Gold Cup by not only returning to the final despite missing its star players, but also by having their twelve goals scored by eleven different players. Independent of the result of Sunday’s game, the clear winners of this tournament are Bob Bradley, who continues to impress US fans with his ability to get results with the players at his disposal, and the players on the fringe of the US national team that have impressed Bradley and fans a like with their play at the tournament. Such players include Heath Pearce, Michael Parkhurst, Clarence Goodson, and Robbie Rogers. Though undoubtedly the player who has made a name for himself on the international stage at this tournament has been US youngster Stuart Holden (pictured) of the Houston Dynamo. Holden could be attributed with the MVP award in practically every game he has played in during this tournament and continues to excite me with his comfort on the ball, attacking mentality, and creativity. He is also a player that would fit quite nicely into the senior set up because of his willingness to do whatever is necessary to ensure his team wins, including working feverishly for the full 90 minutes or dropping into a more central role from his favored right wing to get his team going. I think over the next few years he might make claim to that right wing spot.

It is nice that the US finally has depth and it will certainly help the team during the 2010 World Cup when the players are thrown under the African sun and will need to be substituted.