The loss of Charlie Davies has left the United States national team with a serious lack of speed at the forward spot. Jozy Altidore is not a slow player but his game is more built on power than speed. Conor Casey is not exactly, well uh, fast either and Brian Ching would have a hard time beating Bob Bradley in a foot race.
That leaves us with Kenny Cooper (message board legend), Eddie Johnson (Mr. Did-not-make-the-bench) and Robbie Findley (wait a minute, this one doesn't sound so bad). Findley is a player who doesn't possess the ball skills of Davies but he does have the ability to stretch the field and put pressure on the back line of the opponents. He also has shown an ability to put the ball in the back of the net, just as he did this past weekend in the MLS playoffs, that some of the other players I mentioned above (OK just Ching and Johnson) have struggled with lately.
I fully understand that Findley isn't even an automatic starter with a middle of the road MLS team right now but he may be able to play the part of game changing substitute for the national team perfectly. That doesn't exactly fill the void of Davies but there just isn't anyone who has the same skill set as Davies and Findley probably comes closest in terms of speed and ability. Those are the traits that give him a shot to take a World Cup spot away from players like Ching and Casey who are very similar in style and substance and are unlikely to start next summer. It may turn out that Bradley needs to take Findley to provide the team with a different look up front. Actually the more I think about it the more likely it seems like Findley will actually make the roster and now I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that Findley will be on the team. Take it to the bank.
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