A squad to build with (or not)

Just in case you haven't heard, Bob Bradley and US Soccer announced the list of players invited to USMNT camp to train for friendlies against Denmark in January and Mexico in February.

In alphabetical order, he's the list:

Albright, Chris	D					Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS)
Bornstein, Jonathan	D					Chivas USA (MLS)
Boswell, Bobby	D					D.C. United (MLS)
Cannon, Joe	GK					Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS)
Carroll, Brian	M					D.C. United (MLS)
Clark, Ricardo	M					Houston Dynamo (MLS)
Cooper, Kenny	F					FC Dallas (MLS)
Conrad, Jimmy	D					Kansas City Wizards (MLS)
Dempsey, Clint	M					New England Revolution (MLS)
Donovan, Landon	F					Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS)
Eskandarian, Alecko	F					D.C. United (MLS)
Gros, Joshua	M					D.C. United (MLS)
Guzan, Brad	GK					Chivas USA (MLS)
Jaqua, Nate	F					Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS)
Kljestan, Sacha	M					Chivas USA (MLS)
Mapp, Justin	M					Chicago Fire (MLS)
Mastroeni, Pablo	M					Colorado Rapids (MLS)
Mullan, Brian	M					Houston Dynamo (MLS)
Namoff, Bryan	D					D.C. United (MLS)
Noonan, Pat	M					New England Rebolution (MLS)
Pearce, Heath	D					FC Nordsjælland (Denmark)
Parkhurst, Michael	D					New England Revolution (MLS)
Perkins, Troy	GK					D.C. United (MLS)
Reis, Matt	GK					New England Revolution (MLS)
Robinson, Dasan	D					Chicago Fire (MLS)
Robinson, Eddie	D					Houston Dynamo (MLS)
Rolfe, Chris	F					Chicago Fire (MLS)
Twellman, Taylor	F					New England Revolution (MLS)

All domestic players save for Heath Pearce who plies his trade in Denmark. Some notable exceptions from the list are Brian Ching who opted out to rest his knee, Brad Davis from Houston, and Todd Dunivant.

To say this group is green is simply stating the obvious. You could also add the adjective underwhelming. I'm withholding judgment until after I see what Bradley does with them. But even then, win or lose, the results of the Denmark and Mexico friendlies who provide a very clear picture into whether Bradley is successful or not.

Losing the first game will garner apologists saying it was such a young, inexperienced group and plenty of teams lose after a regime change. Should the Nats when one could say that it was a weak national team (Denmark) that didn't really test our MLS boys and even somewhat adequate teams can win every now and then against better competition.

I've seen some people around diss on Bradley's selection of Landon Donovan, claiming his invitation is just a perpetuation of Landycakes getting an automatic invite despite not having to earn his place just because he's a system favorite. Blah, blah, blah. He wasn't the only one that didn't show up in Germany. And yes, he gets a free pass more often than not over other players that have to work twice as heard to get playing time but like or not, Donovan is still one of the US' best players when he wants to be.

I'm looking forward to January 20th. My USMNT flag has be itching to get out of the closet and fly again.