Bob Bradley's World Cup Dream Rests On The Unknown

The second striker role was vacated by the speedy Charlie Davies after his life-threatening car accident last Fall. And with Brian McBride recently retired from international play, Bradley must select one from a group of three promising, yet unproven players at international level. His choices are:

Edson Buddle (2 caps / 0 goals):  The American Pele?  Not quite (that title goes to Giuseppe Rossi), but named after Edison Arantes do Nascimento (ahem… Pele). The LA Galaxy striker currently leads the MLS with 9 in 9 games to put the Beckham-less Galaxy undefeated in 1st place. More importantly, his chemistry with LA team mate Landon Donovan makes him the logical choice to make the starting XI.

Herculez Gomez (3 caps / 1 goal):  Who?  Outside of American (and Mexican) soccer circles, the name Herculez Gomez evokes thoughts of a professional wrestler donning a mask, sombrero and riding a donkey. But Señor Gomez may just take the world by storm this June. A relatively pedestrian MLS forward for five seasons, Gomez transferred to Mexican top division club Puebla in 2009 and crashed the fiesta as a super-sub with 10 goals in 14 games, winning the Golden Boot for the Clausura season.  No American had ever lead a foreign league in scoring.  Born in LA and raised in Las Vegas, Herculez may just have the golden touch Bradley is looking for.

Robbie Findley (4 caps / 0 goals): The surprise selection in Bradley‘s squad, Findley led Real Salt Lake to an MLS Championship last season with 12 goals.  Most US supporters expected the brawny Hawaiian, Brian Ching (44 caps / 11 goals), to get this spot on the plane.  But Bradley chose speed over muscle. The quickest of the bunch, Findley could be an option in the second or third match if any of Altidore, Buddle or Gomez fail prove their worth.

Final Analysis:  Expect Edson Buddle to get the starting nod, making way for Herculez Gomez around the 70th minute when the US need a little magic. It’s worth noting that Bradley has also shown a tendency to move Clint Dempsey (60 caps / 17 goals) from outside middie to forward in the second half of matches… so it’s entirely possible that two of the above hopefuls don’t even leave the bench in South Africa.

Bob Bradley puts faith in the unknown

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We at Footy Factor would like to thank Andy Taylor from Washington DC for submitting this article.

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