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USA Confederations Cup roster revealed

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The U.S. men's national team's Confederations Cup 23-man roster has been selected and it has no surprises but a few injury absences that had to be expected.

Sources have told SBI that Brian Ching and Frankie Hejduk will not be making the trip to South Africa, but Conor Casey will be. Another somewhat surprising omission is midfielder Pablo Mastroeni (though you wonder if he was left off because of the inclusion of club teammate Conor Casey). Benny Feilhaber did make the squad.

Here is the U.S. team's 23-man roster, as told to SBI:

GOALKEEPERS– Tim Howard, Brad Guzan, Luis Robles

DEFENDERS– Carlos Bocanegra, Oguchi Onyewu, Jonathan Spector, Jonathan Bornstein, Marvell Wynne, Jay DeMerit, Danny Califf, Heath Pearce.

MIDFIELDERS-Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, Sacha Kljestan, Jose Francisco Torres, Benny Feilhaber, Ricardo Clark, DaMarcus Beasley, Freddy Adu

FORWARDS– Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore, Conor Casey, Charlie Davies.

Hejduk's absence from the roster would suggest that he will not play for the U.S. team on Saturday against Honduras. That should open the door for Jonathan Spector to start.

What do you think of this roster? Happy to see Conor Casey get the call? Can you see the U.S. team getting out of its Group of Death (which includes Brazil, Italy and Egypt)? Does Wednesday's loss have you fearing an 0-for-3 in South Africa?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Preparing for the World Cup is a bit of a process, especially for the USA. The team is good enough to play top ball, that is not really the question, it becomes a strategy scenario with formations and most importantly a psychological game with the players. What kind of symmetry does the team possess etc. There also is the crapshoot of who they play for the first two games. Its tricky. Teams of nothing but A list players get beat all the time by teams with great chemistry and form. This is truly what Bob needs to accomplish and they will be fine. Three players need to consistently stand out the rest be consistent and in tune with each other. That will get them into the quarters…

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  2. how Whitbread gets over looked for Califf and Pearce is beyond me. Peace cannot get time and Califf plays in a less competitive league than the Championship.

    Again, I like our team I just wish more players were getting regular time at their clubs and I wish we had a coach who brought out the best in these players.

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  3. CONFEDERATIONS XI:

    _____________Timmy____________
    _Spector_Gooch_Boca_Bornstein_
    _________Clark__Bradley_______
    _Dempsey___Feilhaber__Donovan_
    ___________Altidore___________

    GOLD CUP XI:

    ______________Pickens______________
    _Wingert_Whitbread_Parkhurst_Lichaj_
    __________Szetela___Carrol__________
    _______White____________J.Johnson___
    __________Tracy______EJ_____________

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  4. I was pleasantly surprized by Conner Casey’s performance against Honduras. His work rate and constant attacking, especially on the right side seemed to stretch the Honduran defense allowing more room in the middle.
    The U.S. should really put more emphasis on set pieces, I don’t know how much work the US does but when your forwards and defenders average several inches taller than your opponents, especially those from Central America, you need to take advantage of that much more. Donovan, Beasley, and Adu and to a lesser extent Dempsey, deliver excellent balls into the box, we just need “the 6 foot club” to work harder for position and maybe more set plays. Much more work needs to be done to bring the ball down the flanks to get those corner kicks!

    Unfortunately for Casey, having very little experience with Altidore showd as many good passes were missed or each player was slightly out of position most likely due to some mis-communications rather than lacking any particular skill set.

    I cannot see Beasley holding his own as a right/left back against Italy or Brazil. His insertion against T&T was simply to counter thier speed and not allow them to turn corner and deliver good crosses. To an extent it worked, but the Costa Rica game exposed him badly.

    Landon Donovan should be listed as a midfielder, but I guess a withdrawn forward is a position he plays very well.

    I do not think the US is prepared enough to put in a good showing at the ConFed Cup. Injuries to some key players should allow some fringe players to get good exposure, but this team has not practiced or trained enough together to have the cohesiveness needed for good games against Italy and Brazil. I’m looking at a 0-2-1 and if lucky an 1-2-0

    Finally, Hurray for Luis Robles, A player from my neck of the woods (Cochise County, Arizona). Next Generation of US Goalkeepers on it’s way!

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  5. I echo the sentiments of most here. Why the hell is Pearce in this national team. The US team shouldn’t be the ticket to getting a club to get to look at you. This is pathetic. We are about to face first squad in the world squads and we have this Pearce who hasnt played and got laid off by a 2nd bundesliga team. So much for being 13th in the world!!!

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  6. I don’t think it’s a good idea to include Euro based players in squads for two tournaments for the summer, yet they need to be given adequate time to audition for a place on the WC roster. I’d like get a real good look at Charlie Davies, Freddy Adu, Brad Guzan and Jonathan Spector this summer. If they aren’t going to be given a few games in the first 11 in South Africa, they should be left of the roster and brought in for the Confederations Cup. In addition, I think Wynne and Bornstein could benefit from playing more competitive internationals at the Confederations Cup.

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  7. /i’d like to see beckerman called in over sacha, orozco over califf, and no pearce or wynne. At least torres, adu, and feilhaber made it over pablo. we will definitely miss hejduk, ching, edu, and dolo. However, it will be a good experience for some of our depth and possibly new stars will emerge. Don’t know why torres wasn’t included yesterday, but with the win and his inclusion in south africa, i’m currently retracting my “fire bob bradley” call. ; )

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  8. Whatever happened to Chris Seitz?

    He performed pretty well in ’07 in Canada pre-injury. I’ve heard nothing about him since, and I don’t see him discussed anywhere here.

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  9. t.z0n3-

    I could not agree more, I mean our draw against Italy in 2006 was probably the most satisfying game I have seen from the US in a long time, as well as the Brazil game. The US needs to really take a blue collar mentality in to every game and fight like hell and get stuck in all over the field. That’s how our team played in 2002 when we did have a successful World Cup. That team fought for every ball and never sat back. They didn’t play the most beautiful game but the effort was there for everybody to see and that set them apart. That’s how we got the draw against Italy and almost pulled off a result against Brazil. And that is why we fell flat against Costa Rica, because that mentality was absent save for a couple players. It’s all about putting in the extra effort to fight for everything.

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