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Nats call up Colin Clark
Colin Clark heads to goal against D.C. United’s Ben Olsen and Dejan Jakovic, left, on Saturday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. (photo by Tom Auclair/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)
Colorado Rapids midfielder Colin Clark has been named to the 23-player roster that will represent the U.S. at the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup from July 3 to July 26.
Clark looks to make his first-ever appearance for the U.S.; his prior national team experience was in November 2008, when he participated in the U.S. training camp at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
Two days after Sunday’s final at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, the Yanks will gather in Seattle to prepare for their opening Gold Cup game against Grenada at 7 p.m. July 4 at Qwest Field.
The team then travels to the District of Columbia to face Honduras on July 8 at at RFK Stadium and round out group play against Haiti on July 11 in Foxborough, Mass.
All of the U.S. matches will be broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel and Univision, and the three group games will be on TeleFutura.
Here’s the U.S. roster. There are a lot of good call-ups in this group:
GOALKEEPERS: Jon Busch (Chicago Fire), Troy Perkins (IK Start), Luis Robles (FC Kaiserslautern)
DEFENDERS: Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Jay Heaps (New England Revolution), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Michael Parkhurst (FC Nordsjaellands), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock)
MIDFIELDERS: Davy Arnaud (Kansas City Wizards), Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Colin Clark (Colorado Rapids), Sam Cronin (Toronto FC), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Logan Pause (Chicago Fire), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)
FORWARDS: Freddy Adu (AS Monaco), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Santino Quaranta (D.C. United)
For a lot of the folks whining on the Internet about individual players in the two recent World Cup qualifiers and the first two games of the Confederations Cup (Remember? Back when the U.S. didn’t look good?), this is an interesting pool.
I think Beckerman could seize this opportunity and become a mainstay at the defensive midfield position. Pablo Mastroeni was being savaged by the Internet wags, and Ricardo Clark drew the wrath of the fans when he picked up that red card against Italy. This could be Beckerman’s big chance to shine.
I like watching Rogers play. He can bring fire to the team and some offensive spark. I’d like to see him do well.
Not everybody who reads this site likes Cooper, but the man has the total package: He’s fast. He works hard. He’s creative. He’s big enough to take on some of those large international defenders. He’s good in the air. He’s good with his feet. He can hold. He can dribble. I like it.
It’s good to see Conrad back in the mix, and maybe Adu will get more playing time than he did in South Africa. I think Davies is being rewarded for a solid Confederations Cup. He’s the darling of the U.S. forwards, if you listen to the shouting on Twitter.
The Americans I’ve been most impressed with in South Africa have been Michael Bradley, Benny Feilhaber, Jay DeMerit, the goalkeepers and Oguchialu Chijioke Goma Lambu Onyewu, who was crazy good against Egypt and Spain. It’s smart of coach Bob Bradley to look at a whole new group in the Gold Cup.
And The Coloradoan (the newspaper in Fort Collins, home of Colin Clark) has a feature about the player, published just before the call-up.
The U.S. is seeking to become the second team to win three consecutive Gold Cups, having claimed the crown in 2005 and 2007. The United States has won four times since the tournament began in 1991, including three of the past four events. The Americans’ record in group play is 21-0-1.
on behalf of the rest of America can I ask these two questions: who? why?
he’s a left-footed midfielder who is very good with the ball at his feet. he’s worked very hard on his one-on-one moves and is quite effective at them. good crossing skills and good straight-ahead attacker. he deserves a look. he might not be at a level right now where he deserved to start in the confederations cup, but he is worth bradley taking a look. he’s got his best years ahead of him.
excellent analysis. honestly, I didn’t know much about him.
I hope that he earns some playing time.
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