Sturgis Out, McCarty In for Olympic Team

Soccer By Ives reports:

FC Dallas midfielder Dax McCarty has replaced Real Salt Lake midfielder/defender Nathan Sturgis on the U.S. Olympic team after Sturgis suffered a right hamstring injury during training.

The loss of Sturgis leaves the U.S. team with four natural defenders on its roster (Parkhurst, Wynne, Orozco and Ianni) and a fifth in converted midfielder Maurice Edu.

What do you think of McCarty replacing Sturgis? Is the U.S. team's lack of defenders a cause for concern? Should U.S. coach Peter Nowak have called in another defender?

Should Nowak have called in another defender? Sure, but he can't. At this stage, Nowak can only call in his alternates, which consisted of Dom Cervi, Frankie Hejduk, McCarty and Robbie Findlay. Hejduk is the defensive alternate, but also over age, so unless Parkhurst, Guzan or McBride go down, Hejduk is out.

Edu can play central defense to a certain extent so you have you have to convert, do something like this Put Orozco, Parkhurst and Wynne on the back line and Edu slightly ahead of them.

But this was a risk that Nowak took when naming so many midfielders. He still has options, but given the general skills of most of the players, maybe he won't need them.