U.S. Soccer continues to roll

The U.S. men's national soccer team isn't taking the Gold Cup lightly, coach Bob Bradley said, even if it is bringing a less experienced roster than the one that took home second place at the FIFA Confederations Cup last week.

"There are always challenges in the schedule, challenges that force difficult decisions in terms of rosters," Bradley said last week. "That doesn't take away our strong feeling that this is the championship of our Confederation; that we are defending champs and that message started when this group first arrived here.''

The Gold Cup, the championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean, kicked off with two games on Friday. The United States celebrated the Fourth of July by playing its first of three group stage games in Seattle. The United States defeated Granada 4-0.

The U.S. squad will now cross the country to face Honduras Wednesday at 9 p.m. at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., before rounding out group play against Haiti Saturday at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., with kickoff slated for 7 p.m. All of the U.S. matches in the CONCACAF Gold Cup will be broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel and the Univision networks, with all three group games also airing on TeleFutura.

The final is July 26 in New York. The U.S., who has won the past two tournaments, will likely be challenged by a similarly young Mexico side, as well as the likes of Canada and Costa Rica.

With an already packed schedule this summer including the Confederations Cup and the crucial final stage of World Cup qualifying, in addition to the Major League Soccer regular season, Bradley was forced to make some changes in the roster for the Gold Cup.

The tournament this year also holds less significance than other years because the champion is not awarded a spot in the Confederations Cup. The United States qualified for Confederations Cup this year by winning the 2007 Gold Cup, but the Gold Cup is every two years while the Confederations Cup is every four years.

Still Bradley scoffed at the idea that the U.S. wasn't taking this tournament seriously.

"That doesn't take away our strong feeling that this is the championship of our Confederation, that we are defending champs and that message started when this group first arrived here," Bradley said. "It's always important to represent the United States in the right way. We know our fans still look at this event as being very important and we are excited to get going."

When the U.S. took the field on Saturday, not many of the stars who helped the team defeat world No. 1 Spain and nearly hold off Brazil last Sunday in the Confederations Cup final were on the roster. The only four players who remained on the roster for the first game were midfielder Freddy Adu, goalkeeper Luis Robles, forward Charlie Davies, and defender Heath Pearce.

On Monday, Bradley announced the team had added Benny Feilhaber to the U.S. roster. Feilhaber appeared in all five of the matches for the United States in the Confederations Cup, including a start in the final against Brazil. He arrived in Washington Sunday night and will practice with the team today. 

CONCACAF, the region's governing body, allowed seven additional players to be added to the U.S. pool this week due to the team's busy schedule this summer-Jozy Altidore, Conor Casey, Ricardo Clark, Benny Feilhaber, Sache Kljestan, Jonathan Bornstein and Brad Guzan-but whether or not they will actually be used is unclear.

"Our goal clearly is to defend our championship," Bradley said. "We know that, at times, there are many different factors that get considered when putting a roster together. But once we are together, our focus is to go about our business and the way we play and this is an important tournament-the championship of our confederation. We are excited about defending our title."

U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati didn't take the bait when asked if the extra players give the American squad a competitive advantage.

"Well, I guess it is a competitive disadvantage to have played five games that ended two or three days ago 10,000 miles away," Gulati said.

While most of the nation is still enamored with miraculous run in the Confederations Cup, the Gold Cup will give fans a sneak peak at some of the players who will be fighting for the final spots on the roster at the World Cup next summer in South Africa.

Among them is 24-year-old Santino Quaranta, a midfielder for D.C. United. Quaranta became the youngest player in MLS when he joined the United as a 16-year-old in 2001. After some early success, Quaranta struggled with a drug addiction. After stints with the New York Red Bulls and Los Angeles Galaxy, D.C. United gave Quaranta a second chance in 2008, and the midfielder has run with it.

"Santino is a talented player," Bradley said. "Technically, physically, I think we certainly see every time we test ourselves against the top teams in the world, what those games are all about. The fact that he has both the technical side of it, as well as the physical ability, in terms of speed and strength. I think he is a talented player and we're hopeful that this is a good thing to have him back and hopefully he can take advantage of it."

The player who later broke Quaranta's record as the youngest player in MLS, Adu, will also be closely watched in the Gold Cup. After a strong performance at the Under-20 World Cup in 2007, Adu was bought by the club Benfica in Portugal. After one year without playing much at Benfica, however, Adu was loaned to AS Monaco, who plays in the French top division.

Adu's struggles to find playing time continued during his season at Monaco, hurting his standing with the national team. Bradley said he hoped traveling to South Africa with the Confederations Cup team helped Adu, but he is hoping to see more from the 20-year-old midfielder both with the national team and Benfica.

"It's important that Freddy can now, with his club team, make the next step," Bradley said. "Certainly, we recognize that there is talent and, yet, it's not easy to come into a national team during a period when you're not playing and to play against the likes of Italy, Spain, and Brazil (three of the U.S. opponents in the Confederations Cup).

"But having him in the group is a way of letting him know that we still want to push him forward. It's most important that he can push his way through with his club team so that that playing time, that experience, the lessons you learn from being on the field start to help him with our national team."

Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc. Chrös McDougall is a freelance contributor for teamusa.org. This story was not subject to the approval of the United States Olympic Committee or any National Governing Bodies.