The Center Backs

I'll be doing my semi-daily (semi daily in that I might not have time to do it every day) analysis of our WC roster now that Arena has put it up. Remember, the final rosters aren't do until later (the 23rd?) so there can be changes up until that time.

Today we'll be starting with the Center Backs

Eddie Pope: The old veteran on defense. Eddie Pope has had injury problems off and on throughout his career but has always been a rock in defense for club and country when healthy. He is good in the air and comfortable with the ball at his feet. Injuries and age have not slowed him down much.

Ugechi Onyewu: The newcomer. Onyewu burst onto the scene for us about a year ago. He is a tall, physical player with surprising speed and quickness for a big guy. He can be a little TOO physical at times (I've been a bit surprised at the referee's leniency in cases) but he is intimidating and also a pretty good weapon on set pieces on offense.

Carlos Bocanegra: Bocanegra is a very experienced center back from Fulham. He's the 2nd youngest of our center backs (Onyewu is the youngest) but he has quite a bit of experience with the national team and in England where he plays with Fulham. He can play center back or left back (though he's not the marauding type of outside back). Solid but not spectacular.

Jimmy Conrad: The biggest surprise on the team. I don't know alot about Conrad but what i have seen of him I haven't been particularly impressed. He's not the physical specimen that Onyewu is and he doesn't have the vast experience that Pope has. He's an older newcomer (29) and I'm not exactly sure what he brings to the table for the nats.

Others on the team:
Cory Gibbs: I'll talk about Gibbs more in the Full Backs section. Suffice it to say that I doubt he'll end up playing in the center. I see him (particularly after the Hejduk injury) as a left back backup. He's probably 5th or even 6th on the depth chart for center back (Pope, Onyewu, Bocanegra and then Matroeni and/or Conrad).

Pablo Mastroeni: The only other person on the team that can play at Center Back is Pablo Mastroeni. I won't harp on him too much. I actually think he's a better Center Back then he is at defensive midfield but that's obviously not the way the Nats coaching staff feels.

Alternate:
Greg Berhalter: The guy that Conrad slipped in ahead of. Berhalter's stock has fallen recently as his lack of speed has been exploited in games. He's captain of a German club team and seems to be doing well over there. I would expect him to fill any vacancy pretty easily.

The unit as a whole:
This is a VERY experienced unit. Onyewu and Conrad are the least experienced (Onyewu in age, Conrad at the International level) but Pope, Bocanegra and Berhalter are all very experienced. They're all relatively quick and all very good in the air (which seems to be what the natural evolution of the position has become in the past 10 years).

Grade: B+. We're no Italy or England but we're far better off in terms of talent and depth then alot of countries.