Ching left off US World Cup roster

By Fred Guzman

MauiNow.com

As a fan of the sport I was disappointed and more than slightly surprised that Hawaii’s Brian Ching was not included on Bob Bradley’s final 23-man roster for the US World Cup team.

Granted, Ching was coming off a hamstring injury, but the hard-working, hard-nosed forward played well earlier this week as a second-half substitute in a 4-2 exhibition loss to the Czech Republic.

Ching’s scrappiness, work rate and knack for scoring on half-chances gave the US a much-needed element. All of the other forwards are runners rather than fighters.

Sadly, this is Ching’s last shot at playing in the World Cup. He turned 32 on Monday and there’s no way he’ll be under consideration when the next WC rolls around in four years. Ching was the US roster four years ago, but never got on the field.

The US plays Saturday against Turkey in Philly before departing for SA. The US will play a friendly against Australia in on June 5 before playing England on June 12 in their Word Cup opener, and complete group play against Slovenia and Algeria.