Here's what I'm thinking about Monday:
1. The U.S. squad for the Gold Cup and Confederations Cup. There has been much conjecture about the roster composition of the U.S. team for this summer's two big tournaments. Recent indications suggest coach Bob Bradley will field his full-strength roster for the Confederations Cup while relying on a younger, domestic-based group for the Gold Cup.
I'd expect the Gold Cup roster to look something like the one Bradley fielded in January in the "B" friendly against Sweden, with the possible addition of Landon Donovan and perhaps a few of the fringe youngsters based overseas (such as Jose Torres and Freddy Adu). If it were up to me …
Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan, Chris Seitz, whoever.
Defenders: Marvell Wynne, Jay DeMerit, Chad Marshall, Michael Parkhurst, Frankie Simek, Jonathan Spector, Michael Orozco.
Midfielders: Adu, Torres, Davy Arnaud, Sacha Kljestan, Danny Szetela, Sal Zizzo, Ricardo Clark, Robbie Rogers.
Forwards: Donovan, Jemal Johnson, Kenny Cooper, Charlie Davies.
2. Howard's End. If there ever had been any doubt that goalkeeper Tim Howard is, at present, the U.S. player performing at the highest level in Europe, Sunday's gem -- in which Howard helped Everton FC upset Manchester United in the English FA Cup semifinal -- cemented it once and for all.
Admittedly, United was fielding essentially a reserve team, and it would be kind to call Dimitar Berbatov's first attempt in the penalty shootout anything but abysmal. But Howard also made a fine save against Rio Ferdinand to lead the way to a 4-2 win on penalties. Howard's not the sort of player to come out and gloat, but how satisfying a performance must that have been against a club that astonishingly replaced him with Roy Carroll once upon a time?
The ongoing conundrum for U.S. fans, of course, continues to be how exactly the U.S. consistently churns out top-caliber goalkeepers (Kasey Keller, Brad Friedel, Howard) without developing any top-caliber field players. I had a conversation with Keller about this very topic in Houston last year. His theory: In the U.S., kids grow up predominantly playing sports that involve heavy use of the hands, such as basketball and American football.
3. Mean boys. For someone who supposedly is a master of psychological mind games, Sir Alex Ferguson lately seems to be losing the plot in his ongoing feud with Rafa Benitez. Last week, mere days after publicly questioning why Benitez was talking about him prior to Liverpool's game against Chelsea, Ferguson spent most of the lead-in to Manchester United's game against Everton talking about … Benitez.
Even more comical was the source of his ire -- Benitez's supposedly contemptuous gesturing in Liverpool's recent win over Blackburn. Of those gestures, Ferguson said, "when Liverpool scored their second goal, he signaled as if the game was finished. I do not think Sam [Allardyce] deserved that. I just thought it showed contempt.
"In my experience, no Liverpool manager has ever done that. It was beyond the pale."
Throwing additional fuel on the fire, Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce joined the fray, attacking Benitez. "I wanted to clarify his gestures [after Liverpool's second goal]. I think you'll see them as pretty dismissive to me and to Blackburn Rovers' team as a whole.
"I think they are disrespectful and quite humiliating."
Aside from the fact that you'd have to be either ultrasensitive or utterly paranoid to find anything offensive about Benitez's gestures in the first place, the reality is that he was gesturing toward one of his players, not the Blackburn bench. Benitez had instructed midfielder Xabi Alonso to take a short free kick, but Alonso had ignored his instructions and hit a long ball off of which Fernando Torres scored. The "gesture" was simply Benitez sheepishly admitting that he'd made a mistake.
That said, the curious thing about the whole incident is that Ferguson's comments came before Allardyce had even voiced his complaint. Smacks of collusion, does it not (especially because Allardyce is well-known to be a longtime friend of Ferguson's). Did the two spend the whole week on the phone plotting a coordinated attack on Benitez? We'll never know for certain, but it sure does look that way.
4. U.S. podcast. Andrew Hush will be back this week, so start sending in those questions to podcast@soccernet.com. Just remember to include your name, hometown and "U.S. Podcast Question" in the subject header. If you missed last week's, you can listen to it here.
Player Pimping
With the success of English import Darren Huckerby in San Jose and the recent arrival of Ade Akinbiyi in Houston, it seems that English lower-league veterans are catching the eye of MLS scouts. That being the case, I'd recommend former Swansea legend Lee Trundle.
Trundle, now 32, is in the midst of an unhappy stint at Bristol City (he recently rejoined the team after being sent on loan to Leeds), but previously had been a prolific hit man for Swansea with 78 goals in 146 appearances between 2003-07. Although he might be past his prime, Trundle could (and should) have played for one of the lower-tier Premiership teams back in the day. Call him a poor man's Matt Le Tissier if you will, but he has a great deal of flair and skill, and I believe he still could have an impact in MLS.