Come Join the Youth Brigade!

Bob Bradley's roster for the friendly against our friends south of the 700-mile fence is out, and it is young. By definition, this also makes it inexperienced though there are a few graybeards amongst the saplings. So let's have a look at the men (or boys, depending upon what age makes that distinction) who will be wearing those god-awful hoops . . .

GOALKEEPERS: Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Tim Howard (Everton FC).

Fine, nothing to see here. Timmy is clearly our #1 and El Guzano is the up-and-comer, despite not being able to impress the British Home Office.

DEFENDERS: Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham FC), Ramiro Corrales (SK Brann), Drew Moor (FC Dallas), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Michael Parkhurst (New England Revolution), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock), Eddie Robinson (Houston Dynamo).

Ugh, here we go again with Boca and Gooch. And man, are we gonna get burned on the flanks! Pearce is the only guy here with anything resembling what I would label speed. Yikes! Let's call my mood "not entirely filled with bluster and swaggering confidence" on the defensive side of the ball. Cherundolo's injury makes the right-back situation an interesting one. Personally, I don't think Moor has the chops to handle this type of challenge. Maybe Parkhurst gets a shot on the outside?

MIDFIELDERS: Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Bobby Convey (Reading FC), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Eddie Lewis (Derby County).

Wait, isn't Eddie Lewis getting crap dug out of his knee about now? Sans Mr. Lewis, I think we're looking at a midfield that boasts limited minutes contra Los Tricolores on the senior level--just Convey and Feilhaber if I'm not mistaken. Wow! Whatever else you may say about Bob Bradley--he's got balls (and not just the ones in a bag next to the stack of orange training cones).

FORWARDS: Jozy Altidore (New York Red Bulls), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Pat Noonan (Aalesund FK).

Noonan? Noonan? Why in heaven's name are we seeing Noonan again? Shouldn't he be off snuggling up with some fair-haired valkyries in his own private fjord? Other than that, I've got no complaints. Here's hoping Ms. Donovan decides to stow the purse and transform into the Mexicutioner again. I wonder if he's sort of an inverse bull? You know, he sees green (opposite red on the color wheel) and suddenly the dormant testosterone gets pumping?

Alright, who wants to design a "Bob's Got Balls" t-shirt for me? I'll give him credit--he's going to throw some kids in the fire and see who can take the heat against the toughest lot that CONCACAF can throw against us. We may not emerge on the usual end of the 2-0 Maginot Line this time, but it's a goddamn friendly and we're going to learn something about these kids when the result is for all intents and purposes meaningless. Well, excepting the gloat-quotient that is.