U.S. - Costa Rica Squad Announced

Arena Names 18-Man Roster In Advance of Oct. 8 Qualifier in Costa Rica

ROSTER BY POSITION

Goalkeepers (2) – Kevin Hartman (Los Angeles Galaxy), Tim Howard (Manchester United)

Defenders (8) – Chris Albright (Los Angeles Galaxy), Wade Barrett (San Jose Earthquakes), Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham FC), Dan Califf (San Jose Earthquakes), Eddie Lewis (Leeds United), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Eddie Pope (Real Salt Lake), Jonathan Spector (Charlton Athletic)

Midfielders (5) – DaMarcus Beasley (PSV Eindhoven), Ricardo Clark (San Jose Earthquakes), Bobby Convey (Reading FC), Kyle Martino (Columbus Crew), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids)

Forwards (3) – Brian Ching (San Jose Earthquakes), Santino Quaranta, (D.C. United), Taylor Twellman (New England Revolution)

Looks like we will finally get our first look at Tim Howard in a while -- he's been riding the pine at Man U., and between Kasey Keller's dazzling domination and Tim's first child being born, he hasn't even been called up this year.

Glad to see Jonathan Spector on the roster, too. Hope this time Bruce puts him in. Please God don't let our average age at the World Cup next year be close to 30. That team will just break down and get overrun.

Eddie Pope? I think Bruce sees his past more than he sees his present. I love and adore Eddie Pope, but he's done at the international level. Once you lose that step as a defender, it's over. Can you see him going head to head with Wayne Rooney? Kaka? Eto'o? Shevchenko? Nope. We tried this last World Cup (Jeff Agoos) with disastrous results.

Twellman (too short) and Ching (too slow) haven't impressed me yet. But Twellman is a scorer, and his fabulous record of late strikes with the Revolution this year has earned him this spot. With scoring phenom Eddie Johnson still suffering from fractures in his feet, Bruce must find another striker, just in case. That's where Ching comes in.

At least our two best young players are on the squad, Damarcus Beasley and Oguchi Onyewu. When we shut down the other team's striker, he's been Onyewuued.

What can I say about all those MLS guys? I just don't understand giving all those roster spots to people who have such a small chance of making the World Cup squad. Wade Barrett? A 29-year-old who's been capped once? Come on. I'd rather see Freddy Adu, Eddie Gaven, Zak Whitbread, Justin Mapp, Alecko Eskandarian, Benny Feilhaber, Marvel Wynne. Young players with promise. Too bad they didn't go to U.Va.

Oh well. At least he didn't call up Chris Armas.