Young guns take lumps while leading U.S. at Gold Cup

	Justin Mapp, 22, was one of seven U.S. starters under age 25 on Saturday. Ben Liebenberg/WireImage.com
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CARSON, Calif. -- Forgive Steve Ralston if he looked a little disoriented on Saturday. After all, the veteran New England Revolution midfielder only rolled into U.S. national-team camp a few days ago, nearly a week later than his teammates.

But when he took the field as a U.S. starter for the first time at the CONCACAF Gold Cup, there must have been one thought going through his mind as he looked at his teammates: Man, I'm surrounded by a J.V. team.

Two games in three days is a lot to ask of any soccer team, so it's to U.S. coach Bob Bradley's credit that he has assembled a roster with enough depth to field several different starting lineups, all with varied strengths.

But the 11 who took the field against Trinidad and Tobago on Saturday were about as close to junior-varsity level as it comes.

Seven of the starters were under the age of 25. The back four had eight international appearances between them. The key creative player on the field was 22-year-old Justin Mapp, who had two caps.

Other than Ralston and grizzled keeper Kasey Keller, the most experienced members of the team were 23-year-old Eddie Johnson, with two World Cup appearances under his belt, and 29-year-old Brian Ching, with none (though he was on the 2006 roster).

As far as that group's comfort level with one another? Well, let's just say they were learning on the fly during the United States's 2-0 victory.

"There was some unfamiliarity there, yeah," admitted the 32-year-old Ralston. "It's hard to get a good feeling with each other in just a few days. It's so hard at this level to play two games in three days. We pretty much knew it was going to be a whole new team out there."

The U.S. probably owes the scheduling committee at CONCACAF a drink or two. The Americans opened the Gold Cup against Guatemala, probably the toughest test in their group, and gutted out a 1-0 win. The reward in the second match was the Trinidadians, a team that is a shadow of the squad that became the darlings of the '06 World Cup.

Because the Trinidadian federation and the Cup veterans are in the middle of a disagreement over bonus payments, the Soca Warriors that are participating in the Gold Cup are a thrown-together team of reserve players with little to no international experience. And Bradley and his staff were keenly aware of it, pushing the younger American players in practice on Friday to be ready.

"It's a long tournament with a lot of games," Mapp said. "We knew we'd get a lot of opportunities. It's always like a tryout -- you do what you can do."

If Saturday's game was the tryout, Mapp certainly did his best to earn a varsity letter. Much of the patched-together American youth lineup looked shaky and hesitant with each others' tendencies, on and off the ball. But Mapp was one of the exceptions. The slippery Chicago Fire winger was wildly dangerous from the left flank, using his outstanding acceleration skills and adeptness with the ball at his feet to whip crosses into the box that many of the other U.S. attackers didn't realize were on their way in.