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Edu, Ashe withdraw from USMNT camp; Shea to head to Dallas for treatment

Maurice Edu

By FRANCO PANIZO

The U.S. Men’s National Team super-sized roster just became a little leaner.

Maurice Edu, Corey Ashe and Brek Shea were forced to withdraw from the U.S. camp because of injuries, U.S. Soccer announced on Monday. Edu has been dealing with a sports hernia that Stoke City diagnosed after his loan with Bursaspor ended, Ashe suffered a groin strain in the Houston Dynamo’s 1-1 draw with Sporting Kansas City this past Sunday, and Shea is recovering from a right calf strain sustained while with Stoke.

Of the three players, Shea is the only one eligible to return. He will head to Dallas for individual treatment and be available to re-join his American teammates once deemed fit enough for full training, though no timetable has been set for Shea’s recovery.

Here is the updated 20-man roster that is currently in Cleveland preparing for Wednesday’s friendly against Belgium at FirstEnergy Stadium:

GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire)

DEFENDERS (6): DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Michael Parkhurst (Augsburg)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Stuart Holden (Bolton), Jermaine Jones (Schalke), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)

FORWARDS (5): Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar), Terrence Boyd (Rapid Vienna), Clint Dempsey (Tottenham Hotspur), Herculez Gomez (Santos), Eddie Johnson (Seattle Sounders FC)

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What do you think of Edu, Shea and Ashe being forced to leave camp? Worried by the lack of width the U.S. team has? Surprised by Klinsmann’s decision to not call in replacements?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. A guy like Lichaj would be great insurance against Hazard who he just played against recently. It’s ok though, Klinsmann brought in the immortal Michael Parkhurst, who doesn’t even make the bench in Germany, along with midfielders Evans and Beasley as insurance, for “team chemistry”. Your move, Jürgen.

    Reply
    • Give Parkhurst some credit. It’s not that he didn’t make the ‘bench in Germany’, he didn’t make the bench on a 2nd division team fighting off relegation…..clearly he should be in camp!
      He apparently follows the diet regiment and is a great locker room guy….just what JK is trying to build.

      Reply
    • Doubt it. Klinsmann said only MLS and Scandinavian guys with a few exceptions. Well probably see Beckerman, Evans and Davis midfield trio in our Gold Cup trio… (Praying its not tho)

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      • Well, it’s not out of the picture. Word is that Morales has already sorted out his new club situation (Ingolstadt) and Klinsmann does rate him highly (for good reason).

      • If thats our midfield trio I wont watch the gold cup

        Those are the 3 guys that belong nowhere near the US team.

        If klinsmann goes with that ill be supporting for him to be fired

    • Well, the USMNT is deeper than it ever was, so it has lots of choices, which can be just as vexing. I remember when Bora Milutinović was coaching, he had a “pool” of about 30 players, when someone went down with injury another current team member would fill their place, no matter what position. It always looked like the same team, because it essentially was except some players were playing out-of-position.

      Reply
  2. If only we had a natural wide player to replace Shea who could also press on the wing and take pressure off the fullbacks, maybe even a proven scorer to help with the 2 goals in 3 games slump we’re in.

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  3. What about that Landon Donovan guy? Just the USMNT leading assist and goal scorer. No, Klinsy you’re right we don’t need that kind of production for a USMNT that is firing on all attacking cylinders, oh wait…….

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  4. Klinsmann will either call in another surprise or no one as replacements before he calls in Donovan. He’s trying to “send a message” to Donovan.

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  5. No prob.. Good players but not national team impact players..

    Time to call Landon in..? Maybe… Wont happen.

    I like the idea of Sinovic or Morrow too.

    Reply
    • Not going to happen. although if we lose another attacker before the qualifiers it might. Bringing in Donovan, sending EJ up top with Jozy, playing Donovan and Dempsey wide (either position, since they often switch around) with Jones in the middle gives us our best lineup. I would prefer Donovan on the right because his defensive work rate provides cover for Cameron.

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    • Sooner of later, Klinsmann will have to bring him in, Although I do think that JK will name him to the Gold Cup team.

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  6. I think JK starts with this:

    —————– Jozy ———————
    EJ ———– Deuce ————- Zusi
    ———– Jones —- Sacha ————
    DMB — Besler — Omar — Cameron
    —————- Howard ——————-

    We have ZERO width on this roster until F. Johnson shows up from Germany — and that’s only if Klinsmann decides to use him at MF.

    Reply
    • Man I hate using EJ on the left. Does he ever play wide for Seattle? I would use him as a sub for Jozy, not as a wide player.

      Reply
      • +1 not a fan of EJ out wide but i know jurgen is! EJ is a striker nothing else… I think Wispy’s XI is exactly what we will see.

    • Ever since Zusi started playing RW for Sporting KC in addition for the USMNT, he has become better at providing attacking width.

      That being said, I’d rather see Dempsey at LM and Gomez up top with Jozy and see the US deploy in more of a 442.

      Reply
    • If that does happen, it will be another case of injuries and availability forcing JK to do something somewhat intelligent. Of course, that’s only one D-mid and allows Kljestan to play a more natural position, assuming he has permission to roam ahead of Jones. So I doubt it. I’d almost bet he’ll use Evans instead of Kljestan.

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      • Now that would be a joke….I hope we don’t see Evans, I’d rather see Brad Davis before him, and Davis better start putting in some of his trademark crosses and set piece services that he is suppose to be in this team for…because in Azteca and the game in Houston vs Canada’s B team Bus parking squad….he was horrible in those

  7. -I would like to see torres and beckerman added to the roster
    -2 options for dealing with the absence of edu, 1. move cameron to d mid and then parkhurst on the right 2. have jones sit deeper in front of the back four and slot kljesten in next to him as a deep lying creator/box to box

    Reply
      • Yeah…..there is absolutely NO need to call in Beckerman against the the likes of Belgium with guys like Dembele, Lukaku, Hazard, Witsel, Fellaini who are ALL much faster and better 1v1 and technically more sound than him and would not help to have him trying to keep up with that caliber of players. Torres YES should have been on this camp and if Edu was hurt already with a Hernia I see this as HIGHLY irresponsible of Klinsmann NOT to call in Torres AND Morales given how thin we are at Right Back with just Parkhurst, who’s out of form with no games in Months, and Cameron….because he didn’t call in Dolo. Morales gives him cover at D-Mid for Edu and while Bradley gets back and since Danny Williams IS hurt apparently from what I’ve read from Hoffenheim fans, and he did play great in the Right Back spot before. Torres is just a dumb snub….get Gatt in here too

    • No way Cameron is moved to d-mid. Without Dolo, Chandler, or Lichaj, our RB depth is dangerously thin. It’s basically Cameron and then Parkhurst, but Parkhurst is also the current backup at LB until Fabian Johnson arrives.

      Plus, MB90 will be arriving soon as well, but if JK does call in a replacement d-mid, I’d rather it be Torres or even Morales–Beckerman has proven over and over that while he’s a decent B-team player, he lacks the pace for WCQ fixtures and other important matches. But my guess is that Jones and Kljestan will man the d-mid spots for the Belgium fixtures.

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  8. Sinovich has been impressive for SKC. What about him. I personally don’t have that big of an issue with starting Beasley at LB. Cameron has deputized at LB for stoke so perhaps even him and then Parkhurst on the right. (I know he hasn’t been playing but were running low on options)

    Reply
    • Speaking as an SKC fan, I’d love to see Seth Sinovic get a call-up, but realistically, I think Justin Morrow is probably ahead of him on the USMNT left back depth chart.

      That being said, I’m not especially worried about the Belgium friendly itself. I imagine we’ll see Beasley at LB with Parkhurst backing him up, but with Fabian Johnson due to come in after Hoffenheim’s game today, we should be fine at LB barring another injury. And at LM, there are a variety of options–Beasley himself if F. Johnson gets the call at LB, but Davis, Dempsey, and Zusi can all play on the left flank reasonably well.

      Reply
      • Well if the Xolos don’t beat Athletico MG on Thursday, Castillo will be available, probably not for the Germany game though.

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