Preliminary thoughts on the provisional roster

I'll get into more detail later, but wanted to get at least a quick hit on the 30-man roster announced today.

THE BIGGEST NEWS - No Charlie Davies. You can only read Bradley's omission of Davies to mean that he's nowhere near ready to come back. While I don't think there was anyone out there counting on Davies' return, make no mistake that the US will be much the poorer for his absence.

THE OTHER BIG OMISSIONS - No Freddy Adu - Pretty sad to see a kid who was supposed to revolutionize soccer in the US now can't even crack a 30-man roster. No Connor Casey - Casey got a pretty good look in qualification, and apparently didn't measure up in Bradley's eyes. No Brian McBride - OK, he was probably a longshot, but I thought an interesting possibility.

YOUTH IS SERVED - Edson Buddle, Herculez Gomez, and Robbie Findlay, welcome to your opportunity. As unfortunate as Davies' injury is, now these three budding stars are going to get their chance to shine. I've discussed my Buddle crush previously, but I'm thrilled to see Findlay on the roster as well. Speed kills, and it never hurts to have a little extra speed on the roster.

From mlssoccer.com, here's the full roster:

Goalkeepers (3): Tim Howard (Everton), Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolves)

Defenders (9): Carlos Bocanegra (Stade Rennais), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Jonathan Spector (West Ham), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan), Jay DeMerit (Watford), Heath Pearce (FC Dallas), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew)

Midfielders (12): Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Ricardo Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus), Stuart Holden (Bolton Wanderers), José Francisco Torres (Pachuca), Alejandro Bedoya (Örebro), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)

Forwards (6): Jozy Altidore (Hull City), Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez (Puebla), Eddie Johnson (Aris)