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Jones, Lichaj among 20 called up for USMNT friendlies

 Jermaine Jones 1 (Reuters)

Schalke 04 midfielder Jermaine Jones, Aston Villa defender Eric Lichaj and FC Dallas winger Brek Shea were among 20 players called by U.S. men's national team head coach Bob Bradley for upcoming friendlies against Poland (Oct. 9th in Chicago) and Colombia (Oct. 12 in Chester, Pa.).

Shea and Heath Pearce were the only MLS players to be called in, with the league playing a full schedule around the time of the friendlies. Shea and Pearce will join the national team after playing in Dallas' match against Colorado on Oct. 9th. National team star Landon Donovan appears set to miss both friendlies.

"This is a fantastic opportunity to gather many of our players based in Europe and continue to build on the foundation we established during the last four years," said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley. "We believe we have a strong nucleus of talented players, many of whom we are going to challenge to assume greater leadership roles during the next four-year cycle.

"We certainly have ideas on how we want to move forward, and these games will be the start of that process."

Some old familiar faces are back in the mix, with Eddie Johnson and Michael Parkhurst earning call-ups.

Here is the full roster:

USMNT Roster for Poland/Colombia friendlies

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

DEFENDERS-Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Étienne), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Eric Lichaj (Aston Villa), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan), Michael Parkhurst (FC Nordsjaelland), Heath Pearce (FC Dallas), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)

MIDFIELDERS– Alejandro Bedoya (Örebro), Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Stuart Holden (Bolton Wanderers), Jermaine Jones (FC Schalke), Brek Shea (FC Dallas)

FORWARDS-Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Eddie Johnson (Fulham)

What do you think of the group? Excited to finally see Jermaine Jones play for the USA? Hoping Jozy Altidore can find his goal-scoring touch? Who else would you like to have seen called in?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Technically, I think Chivas could still make the playoffs if they won the rest of their games and there’s a major car crash involving the team busses for San Jose, Kansas City, and Colorado.

    (Unless Colorado’s win the other night sealed Chivas’ fate).

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  2. Good point. Maybe BB doesn’t plan on using the FCD players. Maybe Shea is there for BB to get a feel for how he acts off the pitch (there has to be questions about him based on his recent red card and the following fit he threw, and of course based on his haircut). Maybe Pearce is there strictly as cover in case of injuries.

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  3. “as for FCD not having games on those exact date is irrelevant because you are still adding two games of wear and tear (and possible injury) to two very key players on a team battling for the SS and playoff position.”

    Pearce and Shea were called in because they are having an excellent year and this is a good time to see them up close and personal, particularly in Shea’s case. In Pearce’s case, L Backs are always going to be looked at. As for this wear and tear business,they may not play a minute or they could play 20-10 minutes. That would minimize the wear and tear but if you feel like they should be kept in cotton wool between games, I don’t know what to tell you. I’m sure Dallas were consulted and have given their blessing so if they are okay with this I don’t know why you shouldn’t be.

    As for Cameron, Bornstein and Braun, I’m sure the USMNT knows all about JB, and they have had Braun and Cameron in. Maybe they just aren’t in the US’ plans at this time.

    There are only so many spaces in any given camp.

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  4. You cannot tell how a new player or two are going to fit into the team without most of the regulars playing around them. If we send out a team like we did last gold cup with only a handful of real known quantities we aren’t learning how the new guys really play. You can learn how a new guy plays with a bunch of non-national team players by watching him play on his club. You can only learn about how he’ll play at the international level by surrounding him with internationals.

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  5. bob will have ample time to look at Mix when Nov-Jan friendlies are here and his club is on break. I think you are blowing this out of proportion. We have Jones brought in, you dont want 2 fresh faces added into the system at once

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  6. Charlie was on WFD last week. He was incredibly frank and honest about the car wreck (like how he wasn’t drinking but he couldn’t say there wasn’t drinking involved), how he woke up in the hospital and thought he was in Honduras and that someone was stealing his organs, and how he had played really, really bad for the reserve team. He downplayed the rift with the team but that might have been posturing.

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  7. Maybe BB saw those cowboy/western/playgirl type photos for charity that FCD did and wants some similar action for the national team.

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  8. Norway’s on the same season schedule as the MLS, give or take a few weeks. They have five games to go and Stabaek could wind up anywhere between 12th and 4th. It’s probably not worth upsetting the club to get our first look at him when he would be easier to get in for longer in January.

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  9. Good lord, Norway a step up from MLS??? You just pointed out it’s 10 spots worse than the SPL! LAX, Crew, RBNY, RSL…these teams without doubt would compete with Celtic and Rangers for top of the SPL. Come on…Norway. WTF?

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  10. “We already know that Pearce, Goodson, and Parkhurst aren’t USMNT quality!! Why doesn’t Bradley understand that??”

    That’s just your opinion based a some games you may have seen.

    Do you understand that you don’t follow them and their careers as closely as the USMNT does? That players have good periods and bad periods? Thay you may have seen them when they were not at their best but that they may have , my goodness, actually improved since you last saw them?

    Is that such a difficult concept for you to get your head around? You don’t monitor these guys for a living but the USMNT does.

    As for your cattle call idea of bringing in every single professional soccer player with an American passport and a heartbeat, the USMNT plays 14 games a year on average, so there are only so many slots open, which is why it is imporatnt for players to excel for their clubs so the US can have a larger sample size of games to evaluate them.

    Grella, for example, who rarely plays, just turned down a loan move which is baffling and Doyle played recently for Derby County mostly because of injuries to 5 forwards. I haven’t read one account that said he reminded anyone of Brian McBride.

    Torres has club commitments and Castillo can’t even get off the bench for his club, Vidal is hardly a star, and Diskerud plays in the 25th ranked league in Europe so, while he’s okay, he may have to wait a bit.

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  11. Yeh, one might start wondering if Chelsea are bottom dwellers in the premier league with midfielders like this. And what were those naive Brazilian coaches thinking by starting Ramires for Brazil’s Selecao?

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  12. No Gale Agbossoumonde? Isn’t it time to bring in our youngsters? I know he is only 18, but he is a standout for the U-20 team and the future of our senior team’s backline. Is it too early to bring him up? Michael Parkhurst is decent, but I don’t see him becoming a starter in the future. I see Gale as the “Jozy” of our backline. Young, raw, but extremely talented. Is there something I am missing here?

    (SBI-Josh, he’s a nice prospect, but he’s a kid who hasn’t even made his first division professional debut yet. He had a good Milk Cup against other kids, hardly the proof that he’s ready to be thrown into the deep end.)

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  13. Spector is a Chicagoan, too, so I’m sure that helps on to selection. Not the main reason, of course, but an added perk.

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  14. -1 fail.
    If you watch Mikel or even a Chelsea game, Mikel has improved his passing accuracy ten fold. Mikel’s passing stats this yr are better than Stu’s. Leave it to a Chelsea hater to fluff this one up.

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  15. Actually, it’s a FIFA date, so clubs are obligated to release players. But why piss off clubs if you don’t need to? You need a good relationship with clubs, especially domestic ones that don’t follow the calendar.

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  16. Pittman isn’t even healthy. He ruptured a tendon in his knee and is out for 4 months after surgery.

    As much as I love the guy he is pretty far off a call up at this point but he’s still young. If he can regain his form and hopefully move to a better club in the summer then maybe. He doesn’t play much at Wycombe but still remains their only striker to score from open play this season.

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  17. Gooch called up both because getting PT in a friendly is good for his club career and because we are thin at central defender.

    EJ is called up because he’s earned it. He’s had praiseworthy (by his manager, no less) appearances for a top 10 EPL club and has a good chance to start on Saturday.

    That said, I think 4-2-3-1 plays to our strengths right now. Play Jozy in the first half and EJ in the second.

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  18. Why do people always want to list every fringe player name they can think of, when they’ve probably never even seen these guys play?

    You think Bradley doesn’t sit all week, every week, watching game tapes and talking to others who understand the game at a professional level about these guys?

    You call in guys who, if there were a major tournament tomorrow and your starters were injured, could play for you. Guys who are starting to make a name for themselves – that’s great, but you don’t need to see them 4 years before the next WC.

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  19. GW, your post needs to go up in neon lights. I can’t believe alot of these posts. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that BB got in touch with ALL MLS clubs with players he is interested in and Dallas was the ONLY one to agree to release them (which along with the Mexican league is NOT obligated to do for a FRIENDLY when they have their own games to play!!). Get over it already about Ream, Gonzalez, Braun etc. etc.! They’re not going to play! European teams ARE obligated because it’s a FIFA International week off!

    If anything like this happens in January with the long camp, THAT’S when everyone should get angry. 1 week with 2 friendlies is not the time to throw a bunch of young raw up and comers together. I, for one, am excited to see the likes of Lichaj, Jones and Gooch to see how they do…

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  20. maybe you should READ what i wrote. what playoff chase are Houston (Cameron) and Chivas USA (Borenstein/Braun) in? oh, that’s right … they aren’t in any kind of playoff race their season is over so it would have been fine to call them up. and as for FCD not having games on those exact date is irrelevant because you are still adding two games of wear and tear (and possible injury) to two very key players on a team battling for the SS and playoff position.

    you really don’t know anything about US soccer do you?

    Bob is a complete idiot when it comes to team selection (Findley/Clark) so it shouldn’t surprise anybody that he cannot get something simple like selecting prospective USMNT prospects from non competitive MLS teams.

    it is pretty simple. you can even try it at home. anybody from NER, CHV, HOU, DCU, PHI, CHI, TFC is fair game*. the rest of the teams are off limits. how hard was that?

    * and NO a less than 2% chance that is predicated on one of the teams above you losing ever single remaining game of the season does not constitute still being “in it”.

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  21. Mikel definitely does NOT have the best passer rating in the Premier League. That’s one of the knocks on him for God’s sake, and most of the commentators have been saying how disappointing and overpriced Ramires was and has been. Maybe I was a little hasty with my Holden claims, but I still think Bradley is a better box-to-box player than Ramieres.

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  22. with demerit not playing at a club now shouldnt BB play him for sympathy and hell who knows maybe someone will pick him up if he plays well

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  23. You ought to do some reading before you post:

    From the USSF website:

    “With the fixture dates falling during the heart of the MLS playoff race, Bradley elected to choose a largely European-based roster. The FC Dallas duo of Heath Pearce and Brek Shea will join the U.S. team in Philadelphia on Oct. 10 following their weekend league match.

    “We understand this is a critical point in the season for teams in MLS,” said Bradley. “Given the circumstances, we felt it was important that the MLS players be given as much opportunity as possible to remain with their clubs and continue to make important contributions as the playoffs approach.” ”

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  24. I was just thinking the other day that Parkhurst deserved another callup. That should help for when Bradley switches to the 3-5-2. He’ll have a nice familiarity when Noonan finally gets called up again and Twellman recovers from his concussions

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  25. first of all are we calling in MLS players or not? either stick to MLS players from non contending teams or just call them all up. don’t just pick two from FCD.

    now i dislike Borenstein as much as the next guy but what is the difference between him and Pearce? nothing. just call the guy from the MLS team that is out of it already.

    why Spector, Gooch and Eddie? they haven’t played or played sparingly and not very well.

    can Hunter Freeman be any worse than Spector? he starts every game for IK Start with Goodson sooo.

    and no Mix? give the boy some love for Odin’s sake. even if it is just to hang and feel all warm and USMNT-ish. better than Norweigish right?

    i would have called Mix, Borenstein, Freeman, Cameroon and Braun instead of Gooch, Pearce, Spector and Shea (next time kiddo, you don’t have options like Mix does).

    4-2-3-1

    ———-Howard

    Dolo–Goodson–Boca–Borenstein

    ——Jones—–Bradley

    Holden—Feilhaber—Deuce

    ————Jozy

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  26. “3. Developing young players is absolutely important, esp at the beginning of a four-year cycle. Isn’t that what Brazil is doing? Germany? We need to nurture the youth so that Ream and Gonzalez are ready to start in 2014. But they need caps now to get used to the elevated level of play.

    4. Lichaj. Obviously, he’s not ready to start in the WC at the moment. But the point is to develop him into a starter over the next four years. ”

    The flaw in your post is those players all need to prove they can play regular first team football at their clubs first. Players spend so little time with National teams that mostly it is a matter of just taking the finsihed products and trying to come up with a scheme they can all play well in together.

    The USMNT is not a club that plays in a league. They average about 14 games per season compared to about 30 league games for an MLS team.

    The clubs are where all these young players will be getting the vast majority of their development, coaching and (hopefully) their playing time.

    If Lichaj can’t be a starter at AV then he it means if and when he plays for the US he will usually be short of match fitness.

    Germany and Brazil’s young players are mostly already more talented than anyone eligible for the US, so they are hardly a good comparison to make. Ozil and Khedira,for example just signed for Real Madrid and will likely play a lot. It’s not exactly a good idea to compare those two to Ream and Gonzalez, for example.

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  27. You’re joking here, right? Mikel has probably the best passing accuracy in the PL. I wish Bradley and Holden were better than Ramires and Mikel but let’s get real.

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  28. Tell that to Goalscorer24. To him, I guess playing for Fulham in the EPL is not as meaningful as playing in Norway’s second division.

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  29. Do you have that exact quote anywhere?

    I’ve heard Donovavn say something like that but not BB.

    You might have noted that in 2009 BB had Adu on the Confederations Cup team bench and the Gold Cup team even though he had played about 20 seconds for Monaco that year.

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  30. Yeah, no Findley, but you did get Goodson, Parkhurst, Pearce and EJ…..surprise, surprise!! I know Ream and Gonzales are in season for the MLS, but what about Boss, Garza, Miller, and especially Simek??? We already know that Pearce, Goodson, and Parkhurst aren’t USMNT quality!! Why doesn’t Bradley understand that?? Defense aside, I would have like to see Bradley bring in Torres, Castill, Vidal, Diskerud, Doyle, and Grella to see what these boys have. As we all know, with BB, we can wish in one hand, and poop in the other…we all know which one is gonna fill up faster!!

    P.S.–Nice call up Lichaj…at least!!

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  31. In the 2002 World Cup The US midfield had Reyna, O’Brien, Earnie Stewart, Donovan, Beasley, Pablo Mastroeni and Eddie Lewis, all in good form, to call on.

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  32. “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. Bradley’s continual use of Eddie Johnson = insanity”

    That trite, overused definition isn’t relevant here.

    EJ isn’t the same thing he was 1,2 3 or 4 years ago. The evidence is that he has gotten better. Whether that is good enough, well apparently Bradley is trying to find out.

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  33. Let me respond to some of my critics.
    1. Spector. I’d have him as right back assuming he gets back on track as a player.
    2. I’m banking on Najar seeking Us citizenship. Obviously, he can’t play with the team until that point.
    3. Developing young players is absolutely important, esp at the beginning of a four-year cycle. Isn’t that what Brazil is doing? Germany? We need to nurture the youth so that Ream and Gonzalez are ready to start in 2014. But they need caps now to get used to the elevated level of play.
    4. Lichaj. Obviously, he’s not ready to start in the WC at the moment. But the point is to develop him into a starter over the next four years.
    5. Pearce. He’s a good MLS defender, but seems lost at international level.

    No one mentioned my formation.

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  34. Yeah I get that; I am elated for our guys to get called up, and I didn’t make that clear.

    What I thought was odd was that they were the only MLS players on the roster, and that they play for a contender and that it would interrupt an important game with playoff or even SS implications.

    Of course, I posted this before reading elsewhere that they were not joining camp until after the Oct 9th game.

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