On late Sunday afternoon, we will know who Bruce Arena is bringing into camp for the World Cup 2018 qualifiers against Costa Rica and Honduras. He’ll suit up 23 players for each game. We’vedrawn up a squad of 25 players, one extra for defensive cover and one wild card.
Three overriding themes:
1. Gold Cup told us a lot. It’s hard to overstate the importance of the Gold Cup. The USA won — momentum — but the run also made Arena’s choicesgoing into the fall easier.
2. Win at RBA, don’t get blown out in SPS. Barring some strange outcomes elsewhere — e.g. Panama resultat Azteca next Friday — the USA controls its own destiny, likely qualifying — top three — if it wins its final two home games and doesn’t blow its huge edge (11 goals) over Honduras on goaldifference.
3. Watch out for those yellow cards. Until now, yellow cards have not been a big factor for the USA — just 15 in 12 games– but three key veterans down the spine of the team — Geoff Cameron, Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore— are all on yellow cards, which carry through the entire 16 games ofqualifying.
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