US Gold Cup roster announced

US Men's Head Coach, Bob Bradley, announced his roster for the upcoming Gold Cup. There is one Wizard on the roster, Eddie Johnson. Jimmy Conrad had to rule himself out of the running for the Gold Cup, due to his hamstring injury that he picked up in Colorado this weekend. Jimmy though seemed to be more interested in going to Venezuela for the Copa America, judging by his comments on his radio show. The hamstring injury will keep him out of the match against New England this weekend.

The MLS players will be reporting to camp on June 3, so Eddie will play this weekend against New England, and next weekend at home against Red Bull New York, before missing possibly the next 3 matches (@ New York, @ Columbus, and Houston) while on duty with the national team. The US will be taking on Guatemala, Trinidad and Tobago, and El Salvador in group play, June 7th through June 12. Should the US advance, which if they don't would be a major upset, they'll play either June 16 or 17, in the Quarters, a semifinal date on June 21, and the Gold Cup finals are June 24.

The Wizards could also be without Scott Sealy if he happens to get called up by Trinidad's national team, although with his current injury problems, that seems unlikely.

As for the Wizards opponents while Eddie is gone with the national team, the Wizards will play a full strength New York side, who is losing no one to the Gold Cup. They will then play at Columbus against a team that will be without captain Frankie Hejduk, who was called up. Finally if they make the finals they'll face Houston, who will be without Brian Ching and Ricardo Clark. They could also be without Dwayne De Rosario, if Canada happens to make the Gold Cup finals as well.

An interesting note about the roster for the Gold Cup though, as according to Ives, injuries forced a lot of changes to be made to the roster (Jimmy having to be dropped, etc). One name that was apparently being floated as getting a call up for the cup, was Wizards rookie Michael Harrington, who has had a fantastic rookie season so far.