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Altidore, Adu, Torres and Szetela among 23 called in to USA squad ahead of Cuba qualifier

U.S. men’s national team coach Bob Bradley has named a 23-man roster ahead of the team’s upcoming World Cup qualifier against Cuba.

Villarreal striker Jozy Altidore, Monaco midfielder Freddy Adu and Brescia midfielder Danny Szetela are among several young players called by by Bradley for the game against Cuba, set for Saturday, Oct. 11 at RFK Stadium (ESPN Classic, Galavision).

Perhaps the biggest news in this roster call-up is the inclusion of Pachuca midfielder Jose Francisco Torres, who is eligible to play for Mexico and the United States, but looks ready to commit to the United States.

Here is the full squad:

GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa: 2/2 SO), Tim Howard (Everton FC: 6/5 SO), Troy Perkins (Valerenga IF: 0/0)

DEFENDERS (8): Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes: 16/2), Danny Califf (FC Midtjylland: 2/0), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96: 17/0), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC: 1/0), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew: 13/1), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege: 11/0), Michael Orozco (San Luis: 0/0), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock: 5/0

MIDFIELDERS (7): Freddy Adu (AS Monaco: 1/0), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers: 19/4), Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach: 5/2), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers: 3/0), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA: 3/0), Danny Szetela (Brescia Calcio: 0/0), José Francisco Torres (Pachuca: 0/0)

FORWARDS (5): Jozy Altidore (Villarreal C.F.: 0/0), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo: 9/4), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF: 0/0) Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC: 11/4), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy: 24/8)

What do you think of the roster? Like seeing so many young players? Happy to see Torres called up? Even happier to see Eddie Johnson left off? Surprised to see Kenny Cooper missing again? Anxious to see if Altidore and Adu will see major minutes against the Cubans?

I will offer a closer look at this roster later on today. For now. share your thoughts on the roster below.

Comments

  1. If your are a youngster, I think the key to getting a call up from BB is to either be small like Torres and Adu or sit on the bench in Europe.

    Still puzzled why MLS dominators like Marshall and Rogers don’t even get a blink.

    Reply
  2. Szetela picked up a groin injury. That’s why he missed last game. And people need to give up on Subotic. He applied for German citizenship for a reason. You will never see him in a USMNT jersey.

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  3. 4now – how are you having 4 subs?? or are you simply putting the names of people who you could see getting subbed at one point??

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  4. jmac- my WHOLE POINT was: judging a player on 1 competition is farce…. you have to watch at a whole career to truely base judgement…. outside the olympics, rogers has been STELLAR on every aspect…. Holden is a prospect also, i wont fault you on your opinion…. simply pointing out that its dumb to base judgement on the outcome of 1 competition…

    in no way was i comparing rogers to either of Beasely or LD… i was saying if you base your judgement of rogers due to the olympics, then we should base our judgement of LD and Bease on WC 06…. see how dumb that sounds???

    Reply
  5. ________Altidore_Donovan________

    Beasley_________________Dempsey

    _________Bradley_Edu____________

    _Pearc___Boca__Onyewu___Hejduk__

    ____________Howard______________

    2nd Half:

    Adu->Donovan

    Torres->Beasley

    DeMerit->Boca

    Sacha->MB/ME

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  6. To say that to say that you cant look at Rogers’ performance at the Olympics because if you did then Lando/DMB would suck b/c of their performances at the 2006 WC is silly. Lando/DMB have put in excellent performances on a consistent basis for YEARS, including the 2002 WC and qualification for the last 2. Sorry, Rogers hasn’t even come close to that level of being established, so its totally fair to look at teh Olympics, where against players his own age he was exposed as being only a speedy winger that (a) consistently gave the ball away or got tackled, (b) played no defense, (c) couldn’t cross the ball, and (d) couldn’t beat a player on the dribble. I think another posted hit the nail on the head when he said that Rogers speed allows him to blow by slower MLS defenders, but such a one dimensional player is not suited (at least now) for the national team. A better young prospect who can player all the midfield positions: Stuart Holden.

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  7. Good roster finally. How many minutes will the youngster get, that is the question. Surprised that Donovan has constanly been called in when the Galaxy need him. That certainly negates the club team need theory for Cooper. So I don’t know what is up with that. Somebody was saying that Bradley was not impressed with Cooper when he had him in training camp. But I don’t think the training camp is everything. Until you get a player in a game you don’t know. Anyways excited to see the game. Hope we come out with the youngsters on fire!

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  8. I just started a small US Soccer Forum, for people like us to discuss the USMNT. So if anyone would be interested in helping me run it and get members just drop me a message. Or if you would just like to join and discuss US Soccer here is the link:

    http://ussoccerforum.lefora.com

    Reply
  9. i am so jacked and tan to see torres on the roster…finally an amazing natural left footer that’s not made of chalk. i’m wet.

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  10. I am glad that they didn’t call Eddie Johnson. He has been wasting that spot for another young player. Hopefully this can only help EJ and motivate him to do much better. So far since his move to EPL his level of play is very low. Too bad he hasn’t been the same player as the one we saw for the last WC qualifiers.

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  11. Chicano Power! Go Torres, prove to Edgar that he should’a pulled a Subotic and waited…Viva la Raza!

    I like Cooper, but he has two others in front of him at least Landy & Adu. If he wants to make this team, he had bette learn to play with his back to the net.

    Also…I’ve got Rogers penciled in on the left starting in WC2010 with Beez dropping back to LB…you heard it here first.

    This is going to be a fun game to watch.

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  12. I was not glad to see Johnson dropped – I want him to regain his confidence, work on his link up play, and do well again. It is odd that people cry for blood against Johnson, but Dempsey is similarly doing nothing at Fulham yet no one screams for his head.

    Granted, Dempsey has looked for the USMNT lately.

    http://www.futfanatico.com

    Reply
  13. F-I-N-A-L-L-Y. why is Perkins in here Ives? Everytime I see Americans Abroad weekend rewind I see this guy on the losing end in a sub-par league.

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  14. This is an excellent roster and a great time to try out a roster like this with one glaring exception. The omission of Holden, who had a stellar Olympics, and the inclusion of Szetela is so wrong. In qualifying and during the tournament, Holden was so much better than Danny Boy (and Sacha for that matter), he really deserved a look.

    Reply
  15. Rather take Torres from Mexico than get a call of Cooper. But I really want Cooper to get a call-up sooner than later, but i won’t have too much of a fuss because Charle Davies and Jozy were called.

    Reply
  16. Bradley chose the roster wisely after using some of the old guard to grind out some wins earlier in this stage. Now we integrate some of the younger guys so the have a little qualifying experience going into the hexagonal and hopefully to the big dance.

    You may have personal emnity for Bradley, but thus far it’s been tough to criticize this selections based on the results. Hopefully the team will continue to win, and play good soccer to boot.

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  17. Since his goal scoring touch is not enough,what more does Kenny cooper has to do to earn a call up? Go sit on the bench on some European club? Bradley is a good coach, but he must have something against kenny cooper.

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  18. I think Landon on the roster is showing us that LA is out of the playoffs. With Cooper left off the roster shows us that FCD is trying to make the playoffs

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  19. good to see jozy getting a callup. if we pass to the hexagonal round with a win vs. cuba, hopefully BB still calls in altidore and adu to get them more PT before 2009.

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  20. Wanted to address a couple of earlier post:

    “We have a great prospect at RB in Marvell Wynne, bring him in all ready!!”

    AGREED! And his goal at the weekend was wonderful! Wynne’s pace is a huge upgrade over the much slower and seemingly temperamental Cherundolo.

    A word about Stevie C, When you are beaten and you know you can’t recover it’s likely you are looking to foul. That has happened to him in the last game against Cuba. I would not have given him a third chance. Two Fouls = two Yellows against CUBA!

    “Talk to any USMNT member or support staff from the past 8-10 years, and they’ll tell you Frankie is exactly the kind of presence you want around to help focus people when they need focusing, loosen them up when the nerves set in, and set a great example of how to train, practice, and develop their conditioning.”

    DO NOT AGREE!

    I am sure he is a nice guy. AND I very much enjoy his play with the Crew BUT this Sounds like the job of an assistant coach, NOT A PLAYER!

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  21. Excellent Call COACH!

    Cooper needs to stay and get Dallas into the Playoffs. His Leadership and scoring are greatly needed. I would say the same for Sacha, but his teams has other talent.

    I think Coach Bob should have left Boca at Rennes. Replace him with M Parkhurst! Subotic would be perfect but the time is not right.

    I can see us evolving into a 4-3-3 on the attack and a 4-5-1 on defense.

    My Line up!

    ————Alidore————

    -Run-DMB—————-Lando–

    ——————————-

    ————–Adu————–

    ———Bradley–Edu———-

    ——————————-

    -Pearce–Orozco—Gooch—Dolo-

    ——————————-

    ————-Guzan————-

    Torres WILL NOT play but should for Run DMB

    Orozco WILL NOT play but should come on for Pearce and move Boca to the left.

    Adu will not start but will come on for Lando

    I would bet that Dempsey will also start and Jozy WILL NOT play

    Reply
  22. No Kenny Cooper, but its a start……would also like to see Lee Nguyen getting involved more since Bradley is calling alot of youth (still shocked that he didnt make the olympic team)

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  23. dominghosa- im sure ill receive a bunch of posts in reply to this, but what has Seitz done to earn a spot over perkins… Seitz may be more talented, and has played for the Youth teams, but Perkins sees playing time not only when he was in the US, but also abroad….

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  24. This roster is already an A+. Minus Ching, add Cooper, and it would be perfect.

    And just because, maybe Rogers over Kljestan. And Seitz (I know he’s not even starting in his club team) over Perkins.

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  25. ———–Donovan—Altidore—————–

    —Lewis—————————-Dempsey—

    ———-Bradley—-Kljestan—————–

    Same backline as ever

    Cant wait….really cant wait…..USA USA USA!

    Reply
  26. im going to hold off on the excitement till after the game…we can still see the exact same lineup weve seen already, with only one sub- frankie hejduk.

    Reply
  27. I would hope to see:

    Howard

    Dolo—Oneywu—Boca—-Pearce

    Bradley

    Dempsey—–Klesjan—–Beasley

    Donovan——Altidore

    If we ge the win and qualify for the hexagonal I hope we see:

    Dolo—–Califf—–Demerit—-Orozco

    Edu

    Szetela——Torres——Beasley

    Adu

    Altidore

    Reply
  28. A.S- even with LD, the galaxy have failed this season…. yes he missed some games, but their lack of talent is what did them in, not BB’s callup…

    ill agree with you on the fact that he’s not necessarily needed, what with Adu in the lineup…

    Reply
  29. My thoughts:

    No Cooper–Dallas in the Playoff hunt and as Saturday game on the 11th. Given the new faces up top, he might join the team after his game to be available for the Trinidad away game.

    Donovan–pretty much an inked in call-up, but don’t be suprised to see him on the pine at the start of the match. Galaxy play Sunday the 12th in colorado. Probably and impact sub.

    Torres–Bradley needs to get this boy cap tied so I expect to see him on the left flank as a sub.

    I like seeing Perkins on the list as well as Adu, Altidore and Szetela.

    Young midfield though (Beasley is the old man at 26), but getting this experience will help going forward.

    Reply
  30. My guess…Torres plays garbage time to tie him to the US instead of changing his mind for Mexico.

    He will be a solid player for the US.

    Reply
  31. cometopapa,

    love your suprise starting line-up with the exception of adding Marvell Wynne as RB.

    I would love to see the chemistry between Michael and Torres on the left!

    After bashing BB since he was selected, he did a couple of things right for once – no more EJ and the additional of Torres has made the left side a strength for the USMNT.

    The verdict is still out on BB though…. will he be daring in his starting eleven against a weak Cuban team (how many will defect before game time?).

    Still like to see Subotic, Cooper, Rogers and Nguyen get their chances during this stage of qualifying.

    Reply
  32. Brett, sure the Galaxy are 5 points out of the playoffs with only 4 left to play, which is a longshot, but calling up Donovan essentially ends their chances.

    It’s really a d*ck move by Bradley and if I were Donovan I’d tell Bradley NO.

    Reply
  33. Tom P,

    Rogers was released because he asked to be. The kid was homesick. At his age, when he was there, I doubt seriously that believed he’d immediately gain a roster spot.

    He’s certainly got more than speed as a player. Do you actually watch him play?

    GBS disagrees with you about Rogers’ level of play. I’ll go with his opinion.

    Rogers deserves a shot sometime soon.

    Reply
  34. Very excited about this call-up. I’ll be at the game for my 30th birthday so this surely will be a treat. Couldn’t ask for a better group. I think Coop and Wynne will have their chance later this year.

    Reply

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