Know thy Olympic Enemies

[Gian-Luca]

A preliminary US U23 roster for some friendlies has been released:

http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20071128&content_id=131155&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp

[jpg75]

...and we don't even have a coach [:I]

[Free kick]

To my knowledge, the following players ( unlike the canadian counterparts) got a significant amount of playing time and/or had an impact with their clubs this year. AND, save for one or two, are availble to play in Jan-Mar 2008 on a non FIFA date.

Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)

Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake),

Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC)

Maurice Edu (Toronto FC),

Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew),

Michael Harrington (Kansas City Wizards),

Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA),

Dax McCarty (FC Dallas)

Jozy Altidore (New York Red Bulls),

Sal Zizzo (Hannover 96)

Thats where the challenge lies for Canada, where do you find players who have had a similar level of impact with their clubs and are available on a non-Fifa calendar date. Assumming mexico will be of similar, if not greater, strenght then someone would have to stumble badly up for Canada to grab one of the two spots available. Yet, I haven't mentioned that we dont even have coach and our players haven't even assembled yet.

the one wild card is that we have no idea what so ever how the rest of the field stacks up against us. Maybe we would fair superbely against against the likes of Costa Rica etc.. But in the end what difference does it make if you finish third. Other than a confidence boost for the program, Third is no different than finishing tenth. So I cannot entirely blame the CSA for wanting to spare their resources and looking for bigger fish to fry.