US Men's Preliminary 30-Man World Cup Roster Released

This morning I set my alarm clock to make sure that I was up at 11 a.m. so that I could watch the release of the US World Cup roster live. This roster for camp consist of 30 people, 7 of which will not be playing in South Africa next month because you can only carry 23 people on the roster to South Africa. Overall I am really excited about the players that were chosen. The roster is as follows: 



The Goaltenders: Brad Guzan, Tim Howard, and Marcus Hahneman. 
The Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra, Jonathan Bornstein, Steve Cherundolo, Jay DeMerit, Clarence Goodson, Chad Marshall, Oguchi Onyewu, Heath Pearce, and Jonathan Spector.  
The Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley, Alejandro Bedoya, Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Maurice Edu, Benny Feilhaber, Stuart Holden, Sacha Kljestan, Robbie Rogers, José Torres.  
The Forwards: Jozy Altidore, Edson Buddle, Brian Ching, Robbie Findley, Herculez Gomez, Eddie Johnson.

One of the surprises of the roster to me is Sacha Kljestan. He got his name out there in 2008 through his great play in the midfield with Chivas USA and through his excellent performance in the summer Olympics; but he struggled in the Confederates Cup in 2009. Since then I thought his chances of making the roster were slim but he made it. Now we have to wait and see if he has stepped his game up enough to make the all important 23-man cut off for the World Cup.

Through all the excitement of the announcement I coculdn't help but notice the exclusion of one name... Charlie Davies. For those of you that don't know Davies was involve in a traffic accident this past October while in DC for the World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica. He suffered major injuries which requires some extensive surgeries to correct. Right after the car accident he hopes of playing in the World Cup were bleak at best but he battled hard. No one thought 7 months ago that he would even be walking much less have a chance of making the World Cup roster. Coach Bob Bradley said that Davies was in consideration all the way up until yesterday. He all said that Davies' club has not yet medically cleared him for play so that also played a part in the exclusion of his name. Although he didn't get to make the roster Davies' story and drive is so inspirational. I'm sure that he has inspired everyone on the team to work hard and keep going in the face of adversity. I hope that Davies will get a chance to travel with the team to South Africa even though he won't be playing but be there just to to inspire and support the team with his spirit.

Camp starts May 15th in New Jersey and the 23-man team leaves for South Africa on May 30th. Their opening match will be June 12th against England. I hope you are ready for this because I know I am!!