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Klinsmann calls in 21 players for Italy friendly

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photo by Chris Brunskill/ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Carlos Bocanegra and Tim Howard headline a 21-man roster called in by U.S. men's national team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann for a friendly against Italy.

A heavily European-based roster was called in for the match on Feb. 29 in Genoa, with only five players plying their trade elsewhere. The match and preceeding camp will mark the first time in 2012 that Klinsmann will have his top players together, even if some are currently training with the U.S. Under-23 team.

"We're looking forward to having all the European-based players back in the roster and picking up where we left off with them from the Slovenia game," Klinsmann told USsoccer.com. "I'm excited about getting everybody together and challenging a world-class team like former World Cup winner Italy on their home soil. I think we have put a very competitive roster together. This roster was co-developed with the U-23 team because we wanted them to have a great preparation game before they go into Olympic Qualifying in March. Our roster is highly competitive and ready to give Italy a real fight."

Here is the roster:

Goalkeepers: Tim Howard (Everton), Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Rangers), Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo), Timmy Chandler (Nurnberg), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Michael Parkhurst (FC Nordsjaelland), Jonathan Spector (Birmingham City)

Midfielders: Michael Bradley (Chievo Verona), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04), Jose Torres (Pachuca), Danny Williams (Hoffenheim)

Forwards: Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar), Terrence Boyd (Borussia Dortmund), Edson Buddle (LA Galaxy), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy)

This camp marks the first time that Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey will represent the U.S. team under Klinsmann and their first time together since last summer's Gold Cup. Both players had missed previous camps for various reasons, including Donovan wanting to focus on MLS Cup back in November.

Donovan, Edson Buddle, Geoff Cameron and Nick Rimando are the four MLS players who made this roster. Jose Torres, who has missed the last few camps with an injury, is the only player on this squad who is plying his trade in Mexico.

Arguably the biggest surprise on this roster is Terrance Boyd. The 21-year-old striker was scheduled to join the U.S. U-23 team for its current camp in Texas, but those plans changed at the last minute.

Sources confirmed to SBI that Boyd packed his bags on Wednesday evening and was set to fly to Texas on Thursday morning before Klinsmann called to inform him that he would be flying to Genoa on Sunday instead.

Donovan, Dempsey, Buddle and Jozy Altidore are the other forwards on this roster.

"I'm curious to see Jozy Altidore and Edson Buddle," said Klinsmann. "Obviously seeing Jozy lose his starting spot worries us, and Edson is now back in MLS after leaving the Second Bundesliga, so there are a lot of interesting things to observe as we go into camp for these few days."

Regulars of Klinsmann's team who were not called in are Juan Agudelo, Teal Bunbury, Brek Shea and Oguchi Onyewu. The former three are currently in their first U-23 camp and the latter just suffered a knee injury that will keep him sidelined for two months, though Klinsmann is optimistic Onyewu will return for the start of World Cup qualifying in June.

"Obviously losing Gooch was a bummer, but we expect that he’ll be back and ready to go this summer," said Klinsmann.

Some of the more notable players missing from this camp are Sacha Kljestan, Benny Feilhaber and DaMarcus Beasley. Kljestan has been on a run of fine form with Anderlecht, starting in league matches and Europa League games. Beasley, too, has been playing well as of late for his club, Puebla.

Italy's roster is expected to be announced on Sunday.

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What do you think of the roster? Who are you surprised to see/not see on this team? Do you think this team can beat Italy?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Donovan and Dempsey as forwards is a great move by Coach Klinsmann.

    We need more goals and they’re our best 2 players.

    Great to see this decision.

    Reply
  2. Donovan and Dempsey as forwards is a great move by Coach Klinsmann.

    We need more goals and they’re our best 2 players.

    Great to see this decision.

    Reply
  3. ———altidore———
    —————demspey—-
    johnson—torres—-donovan
    ———-bradley———
    chandler———cherundolo
    ——-boca—-cameron—-
    ———-howard———-

    Reply
  4. dude, you need to relax. parkhurst is not on the A team until this call up. just look at the previous call ups! he is being given a chance because Gooch is hurt and since he did well for the B team. Boca, Gooch, Goodson, Ream, John, Cameron, Omar, Williams, Fiscal, and Parkhurst are our CB depth right now. it’s not hard to see that. so relax, get off his nuts, and realize i don’t dislike the guy, i’m just making the point that i think sasha deserved it more than him.

    PD – i agree, what i am saying is that Williams and Cameron are the same type of player. so, in my opinion, i would have dropped parkhurst so that i could fit sasha onto the squad.

    Reply
  5. i didn’t realize i was trying to convince you torres could play as an attacking mid. i don’t even think he can. do we do’t disagree in that regard. i was simply making the point that Holden, Torres and Sasha all play the same position. then i said Holden is more likely to get forward then all of them. adu and feilhaber are some of the only true attacking mids we have. johnson could be, but he is such a utility player right now it’s hard to know for sure.

    Reply
  6. I dunno man, but without Bornstein, we’re in serious trouble.

    Anyways, I’m surprised Klestjan isn’t in the squad. As someone stated below, we have a great deal of DM’s and it sucks because 3 of them will probably start. We could use more attack minded mid’s for depth.

    I hope to see something like this:

    —–Altidore—–Buddle—–
    Johnson—-Dempsey—-Donovan
    ————Jones———–
    Chandler–Boca–Goodson–Dolo
    ————Howard———–

    I think Boyd is going to be awesome, but I figure Klinsmann will go more experience up top to start and hopefully bring Boyd in around the 70 minute mark.

    With the way Spector has been playing, you could also see him starting at the RB spot, or possibly on the left and move Chandler back to RB. Dolo is a great player, but his speed is deteriorating quickly, as is Boca’s. However, Boca will get the nod, and I’m assuming Goodson, but Cameron also seems like a viable option.

    Jones is a mad man, and I like him bossing the midfield. I prefer that he is the lone DM so we don’t have so much congestion up the middle. This will leave Dempsey to his prized role of CAM. Leave Donovan and Johnson to be the attacking wingers, as we don’t have anyone else to do it (great choices, just no depth).

    The likelihood is I’m way off and we’ll be playing some form of the 4-3-3 and having the Italian midfield destroy us. I certainly hope our pace and possible chemistry can lead to waves of attack that troubles the Italians. We shall see.

    Reply
  7. Zak has the unfortunate habit of getting hurt just as he is about to get called up.

    It’s happened often enough that you get the feeling he is trying to make Stu Holden feel better about his bad luck.

    Reply
  8. US fans are really stuck on semantics and terminology.

    Bradley is an all around versatile player.

    He plays the way he does at Chievo because

    that is how the team wants him to play. Serie A teams generally play in a comparatively technical, disciplined and conservative style.

    Reply
  9. Boyd is 21 and promising.

    Davies is 25 and faces an uncertain future.

    Boyd has far greater upside and the odds of him becoming a productive forward for the US in the near future are better than the odds of Davies regaining the magic of his 2009-10, ten game run for the US.

    Reply
  10. Germany doesn’t give a rat’s a** about the players we are taking.

    We haven’t taken anyone they really wanted. And if there is some sort of problem between the two teams, it’s worth remembering that the manager of Germany and the manager of the US know each other pretty well and apparently have a very good relationship.

    Whatever else you want to say about JK I would think he is on top of our relationship with Germany.

    Reply
  11. The more I watch Barca, the more I realize that they are the PERFECT team for him, and vice versa. It could be that what people expect from Messi is far from what they should: He’s not Maradona, yet, is a very much a better club player than Maradona. Having said that, my money is on Messi winning one WC in his life.

    Reply
  12. here’s another thought:

    first half:

    Jozy Deuce LD
    MB90 Jones
    Torres
    Chand-Boca–Goods–‘dolo
    ——–Howard———

    second half:

    Buddle LD
    Deuce
    MB90 Jones
    Torres
    Johnson Parks Cameron Williams

    Reply
  13. Rimando has earned this callup. It’s a shame he never made a go of it in Europe, but he’s certainly a quality keeper in anyone’s book, even without going overseas. Seeing minutes in Italy would be good for him I think.

    Reply

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