Alejandro Bedoya, Andre Blake headed to Gold Cup, could miss eight Union games

It came as no surprise that Union midfielder Alejandro Bedoya was named to the 23-player United States squad for next month's CONCACAF Gold Cup. Neither was it surprising that Andre Blake was named to Jamaica's team for the tournament. But that won't mitigate the effect their absences will have on the Union.

Even though Major League Soccer will go dark for nearly two full weeks during the Gold Cup's group stages, some quirks in the Union's schedule could lead to Blake's and/or Bedoya's missing up to eight games while on national team duty.

Bedoya left Philadelphia to join the U.S. pre-tournament training camp in Nashville on Sunday. The Jamaican federation hasn't formally announced its tournament team yet, but Blake and Jim Curtin dropped some pretty big hints Saturday that Blake was gone after that.

If the Americans and/or the Reggae Boyz go all the way to the Gold Cup final, Bedoya and/or Blake wouldn't play for the Union again until July 29.

Here are the games between now and then:

June 28: U.S. Open Cup round of 16 at New York Red Bulls
July 2: vs. New England Revolution
July 6: at Sporting Kansas City
Some time between July 9 and 12: Potential U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal at New England Revolution or D.C. United
July 15: Exhibition vs. Swansea City (though they probably wouldn't have played in that game anyway)
July 19: at Montreal Impact (same night as the U.S. likely Gold Cup quarterfinal at Lincoln Financial Field; Jamaica's quarterfinal would be the next night)
July 22: at Columbus Crew (same night as the U.S. likely Gold Cup semifinal; Jamaica's semifinal would be the next night)
July 26: vs. Columbus Crew (same night as the Gold Cup final)

That's the worst of the potential outcomes for the Union. There are, however, many mitigating factors.

The first is that the Union could also have lost C.J. Sapong and/or Chris Pontius. They were in the initial 40-player pool from which U.S. coach Bruce Arena picked his 23-player tournament roster. (The full list of players Arena chose is farther down in this post.)

The second is that almost all the teams the Union will play during that stretch will also be missing key players, especially New England and Kansas City. Here's the list of everyone who could be gone:

New England: D Je-Vaughn Watson (Jamaica), M Kelyn Rowe (United States), F Juan Agudelo (United States)
Kansas City: D Matt Besler (United States), M Roger Espinoza (Honduras), M Graham Zusi (United States), F Dom Dwyer (United States)
D.C.: GK Bill Hamid (United States), José Guillermo Ortiz (Costa Rica)
New York: D Kemar Lawrence (Jamaica), D Michael Murillo (Panama)
Montreal: M Patrice Bernier (Canada), F Anthony Jackson Hamel (Canada, though he's potentially injured)

This is life in Major League Soccer. Unless the league flips its calendar to a winter-centric schedule, summertime national team call-ups that affect league games will always be a thing.

(If you want a winter schedule, good luck persuading fans in the league's 15 cold-weather markets that they should spend months of winter Saturday nights outdoors.)

These things have a habit of balancing somewhat over time. Not always perfectly, to be sure, but the Union aren't really worse off than the teams they'll be facing. And while Columbus might not lose anyone to the Gold Cup, you could say it's because its CONCACAF players aren't good enough to make the cut – save for Wil Trapp, who's a U.S. Gold Cup alternate.

(More on that in a bit.)

"It's no secret – in our last six games with Bedoya, we're five wins and one loss," Curtin noted Saturday night. "We need him. … We're a different team when he's not on the field. Defensively, as a group, it's harder to score on us when he's out there, and that's clear."

Indeed, the team has lost just one game with Bedoya on the field since the middle of April. Including two in May that Bedoya missed because of a national team call-up and a subsequent injury, it's a 10-game stretch overall. In the eight games with Bedoya, the Union are 5-1-2, with just five goals conceded – and three of them came in the 3-3 draw with Montreal at the start of the stretch. In the two games without Bedoya, the Union lost both and allowed two goals in each.

"Any time you lose a national team player, it's tough to replace," Curtin said. "We're ready, though. We're ready to do it – and we want, as the Philadelphia Union, players to play for the U.S. national team."

The third mitigating factor is that while the Union don't have a high-quality replacement for Blake, they have a big-time prospect who can stand in for Bedoya. Derrick Jones is going to get a big chance to shine over the next few weeks. The Ghana-born, Southwest Philadelphia-raised midfielder has had quite a year already, from his first-team debut in March to a string of stellar performances at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup a few weeks ago.

Curtin's recent tactical moves to put Ilsinho in the midfield playmaker role and Bedoya in a deeper slot left Jones as the odd man out. Now, Jones will be right back in the thick of the action.

Jones' next appearance for the Union will be his first since he got sent off for a studs-up challenge on the New York Red Bulls' Felipe Martins on June 18. Martins certainly made the most of it – as Haris Medunjanin eloquently noted Saturday night – but Jones did himself no favors with a high slide made just feet from the referee.

Here's a chance for Jones to show he learned from that. Bedoya will be among those cheering him on.

"Derrick, I have so much faith in him," Bedoya said Saturday night. "He's got so much potential. He's a great player and he's going to be even better moving forward. All the experience he's gaining, he's going to learn from that – not to get stuck into a tackle and leave it up to the referee's discretion."

Now for the final mitigating factor: Blake might be back with the Union before the tournament ends. So could Bedoya, of course. What we know for sure is that they almost certainly won't knock each other out. Assuming the U.S. wins its group (as it should) and Jamaica finishes in the top two in its group (as it should, along with Mexico), the Yanks and Reggae Boyz will be on opposite sides of the bracket until the final.

Jamaica is most likely looking at a quarterfinal against Honduras in Glendale, Ariz., and a semifinal against Mexico at the Rose Bowl. Both games could be great fun for neutrals, but not for Blake and his colleagues.

Now let's get into the U.S. roster, and what we could see during the tournament because of it.

Here are the players Arena chose:

Goalkeepers (3): Brad Guzan (Atlanta United), Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Sean Johnson (New York City FC)

Defenders (8): Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), Omar Gonzalez (Pachuca/Mexico), Matt Hedges (FC Dallas), Eric Lichaj (Nottingham Forest/England), Matt Miazga (Chelsea/England), Justin Morrow (Toronto FC), Jorge Villafaña (Santos Laguna/Mexico), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)

Midfielders (9): Kellyn Acosta (FC Dallas), Paul Arriola (Club Tijuana/Mexico), Alejandro Bedoya (Philadelphia Union), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana/Mexico), Dax McCarty (Chicago Fire), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders), Kelyn Rowe (New England Revolution), Kenny Saief (Gent), Gyasi Zardes (Los Angeles Galaxy)

Forwards: Juan Agudelo (New England Revolution), Dom Dwyer (Sporting Kansas City), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders)

The names that stand out the most are Lichaj, Miazga, Saeif and Dwyer.

Lichaj is the only natural right back on the squad. Miazga – still just 21 years old, believe it or not – needs to show that he hasn't regressed while stuck in Chelsea's overstuffed squad of young players who never see the field. Both guys have been out of the national team picture for a while, and it matters that they're back.

Saeif is an Israeli-American dual national who has played for Gent in the Champions League and Israel at international youth level, but has always wanted to play for the U.S. After filing the paperwork with FIFA to change nationality, he now has his chance.

Dwyer has been a great scorer for Kansas City, with an effusive personality and great drive to succeed. (And a quite famous other half in U.S. women's national team striker Sydney Leroux Dwyer.) He will be a popular guy with fans and teammates alike, and for good reason.

It shouldn't be too surprising if all four of those players are on the field for the game against Panama, which is the biggest of the group by a mile. For whatever ways Arena might be able to experiment against the other two teams, he'll need his top squad to face Los Canaleros.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see a lineup that looks something like this:

Forwards: Dwyer – Morris
Midfielders: Saeif – McCarty – Acosta – Bedoya
Defenders: Villafaña – Miazga – González – Lichaj
Goalkeeper: Guzan

If Arena prefers a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1/etc., we could see this as the front six:

Forward: Morris
Attacking midfielders: Saief – Rowe – Arriola
Defensive midfielders: McCarty – Acosta

Against Nicaragua and Martinique, we could see a youthful midfield triangle of Rowe, Acosta and Roldan. That would be fun, and a smart move by Arena. But for the Panama game, the big guns will be needed.

Once the group stage ends, Arena will be able to call in up to six players from the remainder of the 40-man pool as substitutes on the roster. Here's whom he can choose from:

Goalkeepers (3): Joe Bendik (Orlando City), Jesse Gonzalez (FC Dallas), Tim Howard (Colorado Rapids)

Defenders (4): Steve Birnbaum (D.C. United), Greg Garza (Atlanta United), Matt Polster (Chicago Fire), Jonathan Spector (Orlando City)

Midfielders (6): Michael Bradley (Toronto FC); Tommy McNamara (New York City FC); Darlington Nagbe (Portland Timbers); Chris Pontius (Philadelphia Union); Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund/Germany); Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew)

Forwards (4): Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC); Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders); C.J. Sapong (Philadelphia Union), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)

Bradley and Altidore are near-locks to be summoned. So is Nagbe, if a little less so.

Gonzalez is waiting for FIFA to clear his change-of-nationality paperwork after playing for Mexican youth national teams. If that happens during the group stage, you can be sure he'll be called in. He'd immediately become the No. 2 goalkeeper on the Gold Cup depth chart, and I wouldn't be surprised if he plays in the quarterfinal to cap-tie him for good. If Gonzalez paperwork doesn't clear, Howard could come in instead. Guzan would likely remain the No. 1, though.

The Union would no doubt be thrilled if Trapp joins the party – and even more so if he replaces Bedoya. But the odds of that are slim on both fronts. For one thing, the U.S. squad is stacked with good deep-lying midfielders: Acosta, Bedoya, Roldan, Bradley and Nagbe. And with a potential semifinal against Costa Rica or Panama leading into a title game showdown with Mexico, Bedoya's skill and experience will matter a lot.

If you're hoping to see Pulisic, the odds of that happening are very slim. Bruce Arena said so to Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl earlier this month. Among the reasons why is that Dortmund is going to Asia for a preseason tour from July 13-19. Dortmund has a new coach, former Ajax boss Peter Bosz, so it's better for Pulisic to stay with his club and make a good first impression.

The Gold Cup begins July 7 at Red Bull Arena in Harrison N.J., with a doubleheader of Canada-French Guiana and Honduras-Costa Rica. The U.S.-Panama game is the next day in Nashville.

Click here for the full tournament schedule, including television broadcast and online streaming information.