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USA announces roster for Brazil friendly

USAvsSlovenia (JoeTothISI)

The USA roster for next week's friendly has been released and it features some new faces as well as some familar ones, with 14 of the 18 players called in coming from the 2010 USA World Cup team.

Landon Donovan, Tim Howard and Carlos Bocanegra are among the veterans, while Jermaine Jones and Alejandro Bedoya are two non-World Cup players on the squad that will face Brazil on Tuesday in New Jersey.

Here is the squad:

GOALKEEPERS- Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton) 

DEFENDERS– Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Étienne), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United) 

MIDFIELDERS– Alejandro Bedoya (Örebro), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Jermaine Jones (Schalke), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht) 

FORWARDS– Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez (Pachuca)

Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore are among the players missing from the squad, as are Oguchi Onyewu, Jay DeMerit and Ricardo Clark.

So what starting lineup could we see against Brazil? Here's a possibility:

PROJECTED USA LINEUP vs. BRAZIL

—————–Buddle———–Gomez——————–

Bedoya——–Bradley————Edu————Donovan

Bornstein——-Bocanegra—Spector——–Cherundolo

—————————-Howard——————————-

What do you think of the roster? Who are you glad to see on the list? Which player is missing that you were hoping to see?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I’m going to dream for a second, this is the 23 I’d like to see for 2014:

    GOALKEEPER- Tim Howard, Brad Guzan, Bill Hamid

    DEFENDERS- Eric Lichaj, Oguchi Onyewu, Ike Opara, Kevin Alston, Jonathan Spector, Jonathan Bornstein, Tim Ream, Omar Gonzalez,

    MIDFIELDERS- Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Stuart Holden, Maurice Edu, Jermaine Jones, Jose Francisco Torres, Alejandro Bedoya, Andy Najar/Mix Diskerud (Depending on Andy’s decision)

    FORWARDS- Jozy Altidore, Clint Dempsey, Charlie Davies, Danny Mwanga

    Reply
  2. Lichaj has yet to play a first team game for Villa. While his future is promising, he ought to win a place there before getting called up. Simek has never recovered completely from his ankle injury of 2008. His career is in danger.

    “…I can promise you this…any one of those guys I mentioned above would have finished the two “sitters” Findley screwed the pooch on vs. Australia!! ”

    More braggadocio. You don’t even know if those guys would have been in position to miss those sitters. If they are as good as you say, time will tell. Gomez got on the team because he forced his way on and that is how it needs to go for them.

    Whatever happened to earning it? And before you give me chapter and verse about Bradley’s faves, forwards are different. If you score they have to take you. Otherwise, the only way you take non scoring forwards is if you can prove that the team is better when you play.

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  3. So, if in New Jersey, the USA beats a Brazil squad that includes 4 of its WC players, BB will keep his job instead of lose it?

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  4. Squad….who mentioned the “squad”…?? I was speaking of the forwards chosen!! I would have liked to have seen some squad changes as well, like Lichaj (spelling??) chosen, Simek, etc…but it didn’t happen, but we were discussing the forwards. You need to read up before you comment!! I hope we choose BB for another four years just so that you can watch another world cup success slowly slip out of your grasp!!

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  5. Need I remind all of you that those guys are all playing in leagues that are not only stronger than the MLS, but where they receive top level tactical training, deal with the pressure of keeping a place in the team week in and week out, deal with the expectations heaped upon them from a much more aware fan base, media, and coaching staffs, and they are all successful. They deserve a call up…I can promise you this…any one of those guys I mentioned above would have finished the two “sitters” Findley screwed the pooch on vs. Australia!!

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  6. Did you even watch the Slovenia game…? I watched it twice (you can borrow my DVR if you want!!), and EVERY attacking sequence, good pass, and creative play in the first half (which there were numerous!!) started at the feet of Torres!! I would implore you to watch the game again before you make such nonsense comments!

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  7. Clark made the turnover that resulted in Ghana going up 1-0 in the first 10 mins and had to be replaced at 30 mins because he was ineffective and more than likely going to get a red card.

    And if BB has a lot more information on the subject than me, than why does he make head scratching decisions? Clark over Edu and Findley over Gomez/Buddle still have me puzzled.

    Bringing in Findley for this match is again such a head scratcher.

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  8. you are one of the few posters that seem to understand the process of selecting a roster.

    in addition to what you stated i would like to add a few comments.

    gooch, davies torres, beckerman, gaven, kenny cooper are injured.

    altidore, johnson, adu, holden, dempsey, demerit and beasley are either trying to find a new club or cement a starting spot.

    you do not want to bring new players in with only one day practice.

    congratulation on a good post

    Reply
  9. Where is the American David Villa? One doesn’t exist. You want to blame the system but has it occurred to you that ours isn’t a culture that embraces the game like the European’s do? In Spain, they ask themselves where the Spanish LeBron James is. And the answer is that their culture doesn’t embrace basketball like the Americans. It isn’t a grand conspiracy. It’s a cultural issue. One that will be solved in time.

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  10. Based on half a good season you want to suit up Sebastian Le Toux for the USMNT? I’m no Robbie Findley fan but he’s younger and has scored way more goal in MLS than Le Toux. Did you see Le Toux for the Sounders last year? He was TERRIBLE.

    Mwanga may turn out to be a great player but let’s not get crazy on him, either. The Union are terrible and he’s far from a finishing wizard. At least he’s young and has potential.

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  11. “the list of successful 2 term coaches:”

    Italy’s Vittorio Pozzo (1929–1948) — World Champions 1934, World Champions 1938

    Do you know why there are few 2 term WC coaches in the modern era? Or for that matter why most international teams change coaches every couple of years?

    It’s because the good coaching jobs are the club gigs.

    National team coaches are veterans looking to brush up their resumes, unknowns looking to make a statement, old washed up guys looking for one last roundup before going out to pasture.

    If things go well, they move on to better things as soon as possible, if not they are publicy humiliated and slink away to lick their wounds. In the rest of the world then , if you are any good, you move on because you are always at the mercy of the player pool and who knows how it will go ? You can’t buy your way out of trouble.

    That’s why there are so few long term managers of national teams. It’s a crap job for the most part.

    There is nothing inherently wrong with the stability of keeping Bradley around. He will be better next time out if only because the player pool is getting better and deeper.

    Besides no international manager worth a damm would want this job. Bradley makes a third of what Hodgson made as manager of Fulham a mediocre EPL side. And Roy had a much better player pool. Plus the US is on a four year cycle not the two year one that the big European teams are on.

    So it’s not real attractive. The reason Klinsman, who has a very thin resume, keeps coming up is because he is very charming with the media and he might actually take the job, though I doubt it. Yes, I know, he was a great player but so was Maradona and you see how much that helps.

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  12. Most idiotic list i have ever seen!! how do you honestly believe those players are better than the squad chosen??

    if we get a new coach i hope he picks Robbie F just to piss you off. idiot.

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  13. You’re so right!

    Tired of seeing fans turn on players that helped USMNT through out the years.
    Beasely is a quality player who just needs a good club status.

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  14. “For me, it was easier to take that he had a man crush on R.Clark & Findley instead of believing that he actually looked at the choices analytically and came up with Findley & R.Clark as “players that he thinks give the team the best change to win”.”

    Tha’s because he has a lot more information on the subject than you.

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  15. Under 20 means very little in terms of the senior side. The classic example would be Adu who dominated at that level but who has proven to be 6 years of a gigantic waste at the senior level. There are tons more examples.

    This match was arranged as a thank you for the World Cup team and to take advantage of the World Cup success at raising the public profile of the USMNT. Fielding a bunch of Under 20’s who no one has ever heard of and then losing badly would be bad. Besides the entire World Cup squad fought their hearts out and they deserved to be thanked. Screw Brek Shea and his boys; they did nothing for the 2010 World Cup. Let them earn their own fricking thank you game.

    “This game is a great opportunity to showcase many players from the World Cup team who earned the respect and appreciation of fans across the country,” said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley. “At the same time, our goal continues to be to compete and succeed against the best teams in the world. With an extremely talented group of players, Brazil will be another difficult test.”

    There might actually be one practice session but most likely will be basically a pickup game so any newbies will have to already know exactly what is going on. Under those circumstances any Under 20’s picked are unlikely to play and unlikely to practice much. And you forget that many of them have jobs to take care of as well.

    If any of these Under 20’s are any good they will still be around in January when the permanent manager, whether that is Bradley or someone else, can then tell them what they have to do to get caps. No sense in filling their heads with Bradley’s ways if those aren’t going to be in use going forward.

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  16. If only Le Toux and Mwanga were already eligible…we would not have to worry about calling up guys like Findley due to a complete lack of depth at forward.

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  17. not that he doesn’t need to adjust to the speed of the international level, but against slovenia our backline was too busy playing the long ball, thus taking torres’ abilities out of the game from the beginning.

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  18. Is anyone else happy not to see Altidore in the squad? I’d really like to see someone else get a chance. I am not a Jozy hater, but I am beginning to think that his touch is just not there. He’s big, strong and fast and that’s gotten him this far in life, but I am really conflicted about whether he lacks basic ball skills or if it’s just that he’s young. He’s great when he can use his athleticism to run onto a ball or when he has time to settle the ball at his feet and take on defenders, but when he has to quickly bring the ball down and beat a quality defender in one smooth motion, his skills seem to fail him more often than not. Having said that, who else can we put out there? Part of me thinks he could be amazing and part of me thinks he’s a symbol of what’s wrong with American development where the big, athletic kids get pushed through the system at the expense of the smaller but more skilled kids. Where is the American David Villa? Would he even get any attention from coaches in the US system? I’d welcome anyone’s thoughts on this.

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  19. No one said “bring our entire U20 team” – did you read my post?

    We had several guys show very well in that tournament, though – and a few of them are either based domestically in MLS, or even in college…which means they aren’t even playing right now. Why not give those kind of guys (Ibrahim, Agudelo, Valentin, etc.) a chance to train…if even for a day…with our senior guys?

    It’s no less ridiculous than flying a bunch of dudes over from Europe, right before their seasons start…

    Reply
  20. People, think about what this game means to USSF – it si a post-WC event intended to carry WC goodwill over and bolster what hopefully is a growing wave of soccer popularity in the US. In that sense, it must cater to the newer fans. Filling the squad with a bunch of new names who were not in the WC will only confuse the less “experienced” fan. That is not what USSF wants or needs in order to continue the post-WC bump. Thus, a mix of familiar WC faces, plus a couple “players of the future” is likely very much in line with what the higher ups wanted for this particular game. The experimentation with the promising young guns will start next Jan, when nobody’s looking. Then we can re-introduce our younger, new and improved USMNT for the Gold Cup in 2011… hopefully in a German accent.

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  21. At first I thought that was a comma after Jesus Christ. I was envisioning a flooded field to give us a clear advantage, having the only man on the pitch that could walk on water. Clearly that would be the proper strategy for a player of that ability. I wonder if Bob would play it that way. I also suppose he would get the #10 shirt.

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  22. Ives,

    Lets look at who is there and not who is not! Borstein and Findley wil start…Bob plays his boys, biggest suprise is Clark, but he probably is trying to secure position at club…otherwise Bob would start him too. I believe a coach should not take a team through two cycles..players become comfortable and the fear of nott making WC or starting goes awsysee 2006 with Bruce, but BB needs to be part of the scouting and selection proccess…US should go in anopther direction for coach….Dominick Kinear with Bob as a technical Director

    Peace

    GO USA (Will be at game!)

    Reply

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