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Spector added to USMNT roster for Ukraine friendly

Jonathan Spector

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By DAN KARELL

It turns out Jurgen Klinsmann has added a player to his squad after all.

After Tim Ream, Mix Diskerud, and Michael Bradley withdrew from the U.S. Men’s National Team squad ahead of their friendly match against Ukraine, Klinsmann announced that Birmingham City defender Jonathan Spector has been added to the roster. Spector will join the squad on Monday for their last day of training in Frankfurt, Germany before heading with the team to Cyprus.

The 28-year-old veteran can play anywhere across the backline and has even deputized for Birmingham City in central midfield. Spector has struggled to overcome a thigh injury since May 2012, but he finally made his return to the Blues starting lineup on Feb. 22 in a 2-1 victory against Blackpool.

Since making his international debut in 2004, Spector has earned 34 caps for the USMNT, playing on the 2007 Gold Cup winning U.S. side and being in the squad for the 2010 World Cup. Spector last played for the USMNT in their impressive 1-0 victory at Italy on Feb. 29, 2012.

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What do you think of this news? Like the call-up? Think he has a shot of sneaking on to the 2014 World Cup roster? Do you see him playing against Ukraine?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Spector hopefully will replace Evans on the RB depth chart. If we take four fullbacks to the World Cup, it should be FJ, Cameron, Beasley and either Chandler, Lichaj or Spector. The. Oil thing about Spector is that, like Cameron, he can play CB and CDM, but he has also played left back in the Prem (though he was not good there). He doesn’t get forward a lot, but he can swing in crosses from the back. Overall, experience and versatility matter.

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  2. I can’t find it now, but I saw a video yesterday of Julian Green beating Bedoya one vs one. He definitely has some quick feet.

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  3. If anyone picks up any info from the USMNT’s training grounds in Frankfurt today would you please post a link here.

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  4. Glad to see Spector work his way back. Just not sure how much offense we will see if Jermaine Jones starts with a similar type player, such as Danny Williams, etc.

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  5. Well I don’t think there’s too much blame to go around given the challenges of a mid-season FIFA friendly, but it’s looking like we may have to settle for less-than-optimal value from our utilization of this friendly date. More specifically, I’m willing to settle for an avoidance of catastrophic injury. The available selection who will provide the XI who take the field in Ukraine -er Cyprus – doesn’t appear to offer a configuration that will approximate the first choice group for this summer very well, and the queue of players we are apparently hoping to have one last look at means JK may have to dig out the Sven Goran Eriksson FIFA friendlies playbook to find some theory of how to derive a meaningful dataset. Ukraine also happens to have some very good players for what it’s worth so it’s not like there is no benchmark to evaluate. Well, here’s hoping we at least get out of there with a healthy group and a lesson or two. Some goals and a win would be great

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  6. I can’t remember what game it was he was thrown into late, possibly Italy. He was an absolute beast, blocking passes and flying all over the place. His right foot is impressive too, able to pinpoint com long range. I really like the idea of Spector on the team

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    • Going into Brazil, this is how I see it (not my own personal opinion, but how I anticipate Klinsmann setting it up) if you go three deep:

      RB – 1. Cameron 2. Evans 3. Parkhurst

      LB – 1. F. Johnson 2. Beasley 3. Castillo

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      • How so? Obviously there are better options, but I think words like “reliable,” “intelligent,” etc. are pretty apt when describing him.

      • Parkhurst didn’t allow a goal in the first three minutes against Germany like Burns did. Burns needs to explain how, when guarding the post, the goal was scored between him and the post. Parkhurst was also part of more successful Revolution teams than Burns ever was, plus he has been playing in Europe for a while. Don’t you mean that Burns is Steve Trittschuh 2.0? Or Agoos is Burns 2.0?

      • Ah Steve Trittschuh, that brings back memories of me going ham with the Tampa Bay Mutiny on FiFa 2001.Mamadou Diallo, Valderrama, Manny Lagos, Josh Keller and Steve Trittschuh.

      • It’s probably bad news if any of our third string players are on the field in brazil.

        It could very well be bad news while our first string players are on the field in brazil. The world cup is hard.

      • I really think chandler makes it back in time for may friendlies and has a chance for Brazil. Falcao had acl or pcl surgery at the end of February and his already back to kicking a ball around… The recovery time for that is usually 6-8 months. Chandlers injury has said to be 8-10 weeks, but I think it will be less. With the resources your average person doesn’t have and he has will make it shorter. I say he is back to training mid march. Just my guess

      • If Chandler makes it then doesn’t Holden make it? Holden is starting to train. Chandler I still completely out recovering from injury.

      • Very different injuries. With surgery on a torn meniscus your looking at just a little time to let the swelling down and heal the incision. I had this done and was walking around in a day. There’s not even any rehab.

        Torn or ruptured ligaments are a different story. They’re often transplanted or rebuilt. There can be complications even if rehab goes well.

    • RB: 1. Cameron 2. Chandler 3. Evans

      LB: 1. FJ 2. Beasley 3. Lichaj

      I know Chandler is very iffy, but on pure talent alone, he’s on par with Cameron, and better offensively.

      I know Klinsi doesn’t want FJ as a LB, but he’s the best we have. Castillo has proven over and over again that he can’t survive defensively at the international level. Lichaj is capable without being amazing there. Others I’d consider before Castillo: Ream and Parkhurst.

      In the group of death, I’d favor defensive defenders over more liberal sidebacks. And I’m not talking politics!

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  7. international debut about 10 years ago and only 34 caps. You don’t see that often, being able to stay in the mix for so long, but never really hit it big. I suppose he did suffer from a lot of injuries that kept his caps totals down.

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  8. I was hoping for this but I thought with games this weekend and next and coming back from injury, he’d be left off. I think he impresses in camp, and whether or not he plays, he makes the plane to Brazil if he stays healthy.

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  9. Interesting. I haven’t seen him play in a long time. It will be interesting to see how his decision-making has evolved. In my mind, at least, that was the weakest part of his game.

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  10. Glad to see this. I guess his chances of seeing the field are relatively slim, but I’d love to see him make a strong showing to give Klinsmann more to think about

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    • It depends what Klinsi had in mind for Ream. If it was LB and Spector is just cover there, then I’d agree. If he thought Ream would come in as a CB, then Spector has a decent chance of playing since a lot of critics had Ream as a CB starter.

      I still hope we see the two young’ns thrown overboard without a raft. Start them both and see who survives!

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