On Monday, United States National Team coach Jurgen Klinsmann announced his squad for the World Cup Qualifiers against Antigua & Barbuda (Oct 12th - 7pm ET, beIN Sport) and Guatemala (Oct 16th - 7pm ET, ESPN2). "The mentality we are bringing into these two games is to get six points," Klinsmann said in a press statement. "It's important that the players arriving into Miami prepare themselves for two 'finals.' We must have urgency within the group and a clear understanding that we need to deliver, which means each player has to bring a 100 percent effort. All our focus and energy for the next few days will be on getting the right preparation for the team so we can win the next two games."
GK: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
DEF: Carlos Bocanegra (Racing Santander), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Edgar Castillo (Club Tijuana), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Maurice Edu (Stoke City), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaelland)
MID: Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Roma), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht), Brek Shea (FC Dallas), Danny Williams (Hoffenheim), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)
FOR: Clint Dempsey (Tottenham Hotspur), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Herculez Gomez (Santos), Alan Gordon (San Jose Earthquakes), Eddie Johnson (Seattle Sounders)
I anticipate Donovan to be replaced after Saturday’s injury. He doesn’t have much of a history of GOING DOWN with an injury, so this is a concern.
One would be surprised to see Wondolowski off the roster, but then you have to consider he’s only three goals away from breaking a long-standing MLS record that needs to be broken now more than ever.
Some will also be surprised to not see Jozy Altidore on the roster(at least for now). This has to be a concern after the alleged tweets about Klinsmann(seriously, Twitter is causing too many problems for professional soccer).
Most surprising is seeing a pair of faces we haven’t seen in the red, white and blue in so long: Eddie Johnson and Sasha Kljestan.
Although he had a little success overseas, Johnson for some reason wasn’t able to break into the Fulham lineup to save his life, and returning to MLS was the best thing to do. Although he’s not back home in Dallas or Kansas City, he is where he can show the world what he can do, and like his first stint balancing MLS with national team duty, I expect him to be a threat.
Finally, after so much shunning, Sasha gets his shot. I’m not really sure what’s taken this long aside from too much central midfield deph. And with UEFA experience under his belt, he should be confident in his return to the national team.
For the rest of the squad:
Goalies goe without saying: Howard’s the man, Guzan is back, and Rimando’s a beast.
Defense hasn’t changed from the last game, which isn’t necessariy a bad thing. But it would be nice to see Eric Lichaj get a chance under Klinsmann. He’s putting in time with Guzan at Aston Villa in the EPL and did well on the right and left side for Bob Bradley, so why not?
As mentioned earlier, it’s great to see Kljestan back in the midfield. However, I’m disapointed at how Jose Torres has been treated, despite his humility about it. I understand, as someone who plays in an adult league that fields 8 players per side, that a player needs to be able to adapt to different positions on the field, whether it be central, wide or up top. but considering some of the performances from the center mid the past few matches, I don’t see why Torres wasn’t allowed to slot into the defensive mid role. He’s a sneaky little player with great feet who excels there. He did it for Coach Bradley and he’s doing it for Pachuca, and Jermaine Jones(despite how much I love the guy) hasn’t been playing that great, but has been playing with too much grit. In other words, I’m always afraid Jones will do something rash and ejection-worthy.
That being said, Bradley and Zusi are back. Sweet!
Forwards: Donovan will probably be cut, if not replaced, because of that knee. For safety’s sake, I’d prefer it that way rather than risk it. Dempsey and Gomez can hold their own. Deuce has been surprising me by startng most of the games for Tottenham immediately after signing, after not playing in any pre-season games.
Obviously, Johnson and ALan Gordon deserve call-ups more than anybody. They both have worked to hard for anyone to think otherwise, traveling from club to club before finding one that their comfortable with. A good 27 goals deserving.
According to tweets (ahem) Donovan didn’t need a scan and is fine. Good news. He completes the US attack unlike anybody else.
Gordon over Wondolowski and no Altidore? Bold move Jurgen.