Photo by ISIphotos.com
By FRANCO PANIZO
U.S. men's national team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has released the 24-man roster that will aim to attempt to reach the final round of World Cup qualifying, and there are surprises aplenty.
Sacha Kljestan, Eddie Johnson and Alan Gordon were among the players selected by Klinsmann for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Antigua & Barbuda and Guatemala, while Jozy Altidore, Terrence Boyd, Jose Torres and Chris Wondolowski were all surprisingly left off. Landon Donovan, who suffered a knee injury on Saturday while playing for the Los Angeles Galaxy, was also included on the roster.
Other veterans on the team are Tim Howard, Carlos Bocanegra, Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey.Timmy Chandler, who told SBI last month he was open to an October call-up, was also once again missing.
Here is the full roster:
GOALKEEPERS (3) : Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS (8) : Carlos Bocanegra (Racing Santander), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Edgar Castillo (Club Tijuana), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Maurice Edu (Stoke City), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaelland)
MIDFIELDERS (8) : Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Roma), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht), Brek Shea (FC Dallas), Danny Williams (Hoffenheim), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)
FORWARDS (5): Clint Dempsey (Tottenham Hotspur), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Herculez Gomez (Santos), Alan Gordon (San Jose Earthquakes), Eddie Johnson (Seattle Sounders)
The U.S. players have already begun convening in Miami for camp, which is the second-to-last one Klinsmann is expected to have this year. The team will train there through Wednesday.
The U.S. is currently tied on points in Group A with both Jamaica and Guatemala with two games remaining. The Americans visit Antigua & Barbuda on Friday before hosting Guatemala in their final group stage match four days later.
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What do you think of this roster? Which inclusion/omission most surprised you? Why do you think Altidore and Boyd were left off?
Share your thoughts below.
Ridiculous justification of calling ANOTHER washed up player into camp that won’t be on the final roster.
Amen to that. Wondo is playing is ridiculous. Maybe Klinsi knows something we don’t…. Wondo = turned it down due to schedule to exhaustion. Or MAYBE he also has an attitude problem like Jozy.
At the end of the day, it looks like good or great club performance doesn’t always equal a Nat’s call-up.
Yes, I read the interview and remember what he said about Jozy. I still don’t think its quite fair to assume that the tweet was necessarily about Klinsmann and that its definitely why he wasn’t called in. It may have been, but couldn’t there maybe be other things in Jozy’s life that he was referring to? Granted, it would be a coincidence, but theres still no real evidence that Jozy was tweeting about Klinsmann.
Let’s just have Robbie Findley be a player coach.
Never easy to get a percentage like that. Never.
Welcome back Eddie Johnson!
Signed,
Your loving fans
Spector, and Lichaj over castillo and parkhurst, please nats gods!!! why do our coaches do this?!?!?
Howard
Dolo Cameron Boca Johnson
Williams
Zusi Bradley LD
Dempsey
Gomez
+1. couldn’t have said it better myself.
Thank goodness, no Lazy Out The Door
If I was Wondo, I would decline….
Who?
+1
I’m more comfortable with him vs. Jones or Williams
He is killing because of who is playing right next to….Wondo
Good for Klinsmann. It wouldn’t bother me even a tiny bit to never again see Jozy Altidore in a US National Team shirt. You have to want it, and I don’t believe Altidore does. Let him concentrate on his excellent club career.
euro-douchy
Where’s Wondo???????
Wondo has not gotten a chance at the international level
Kljestan got one call in to play out of position back when he was playing great in Belgium. Now that he’s getting spotty playing time, Klinsmann calls him back in. It’s like he uses a dartboard to select his roster…
Beckerman > Jermaine Jones
Gordon instead of Wondo….Absolutely Ridiculous
Verbeek seems quite happy with him this year.
It probably has something to do with Altidore leading the Dutch league in goals.
You think wrong.
Lichaj keeps getting benched for an awful Aston Villa team.
Tijuana are in first place in Mexico.
Score more than 1 goal in more than 3 of 18 games as coach?
Bob did it in 9 or 10.
lol NO.
Eddie Gaven skipped the 2011 Gold Cup to spend time with his kids. Enjoy being a crazy religious freak with your own priorities but for the national team I want guys who will be there until you rip the shirt off their backs.
That moron?? Wondo’s soccer IQ is 1000x that of Eddie freaking Johnson.
Amazing how when Klinsmann errs on the side of offense he still calls up so many defensive midfielders: Bradley, Jones, Williams, Beckerman, Edu, Cameron….
Where do you people get this stuff???
Gatt isn’t developed enough in Klinsmann’s opinion to contribute in this stage of qualifying… which is why he called him in for the previous two games.
Gatt is recovering from injury, he is just now getting back. Fact. Leave it at that. Why editorialize with a bunch of nonsense that you can’t support?
_______Howard__________
Dolo____Boca______Cameron____Johnson
_____Bradley___Jones____
_Dempsey___________Williams
__Gomez____Donovan
Let’s not forget that Michael Bradley scored around 25 goals while at Heerenven, as a midfielder!! If Jozy can remain healthy, score at a good pace and remained disciplined and in the coaches favor, he “may” break 30.
There are a lot of cupcakes in the Eredivisie.
It may be a while until we can call JA the greatest US forward ever.
Luckily it was not serious. There was no pain on Sunday, (except for the mental pain of the loss against RSL.) As soon as he knew he was good, he called off the MRI that was scheduled for Sun morning and immediately called JK. Good for USMNT and great for the Galaxy
Gordon is a very good player. He can play a lone striker or pairs well with mobile/quick forwards. The LA Galaxy were loathe to give him up, but at the time they were hitting against the salary cap and needed to make room. He did well at Chivas and it’s no wonder SJ picked him up. The guy can play defense too. He pairs up well with Wondo and also Landon Donovan. He has a great no-nonsense attitude and works very,very hard for his chances. In short, he puts in an effort that JK likes to see. And in case anyone has noticed, he has scored a fair amount of goals this season. I think he is a plus for the USMNT.
The beef on Altidore from almost everybody who has coached him, is that he sometimes falls into a lackadaisical attitude and lacks discipline.
It took repeated benchings of JA by Verbeeck at AZ to get him to focus. Yes, Altidore is a talent, but he plays on a team with three up front and some very talented passers, he doesn’t have to play defense!.
Klinsmann, on the other hand, plays several different formations, but usually falls back to a 442. His experiments with Jozy as a lone striker, have repeatedly failed as Jozy has not the discipline nor attitude for the formation. He also lacks good defensive abilities and when called to defend, fouls a lot. JK is requiring that ALL forwards and attacking midfielders play defense..
Derogatory comments and tweets about the USMNT coach/players/administration will get you taken off the team no matter who you are. I understand Jozy is a young player, but he is a bit of a man-child. Let’s hope his attitude catches up with his skills.
This.
Bring Jozy into camp and discuss the issue like adults.
The fact is, Jozy’s benching stems from his being late to the camp before the first WCQs which he had not control over since AZ wouldn’t release him.
He lost his starting spot and, despite his excellent club form, was not really given another significant opportunity to start.
We cannot rely on four strikers over 30 at the 2014 WC.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=42987831&postcount=8674
Well, good. Since there are FOUR injuries Altidore should be added.
Seriously?
Even if every player carrying a knock didn’t dress, the controversial picks don’t have to leave the bench.
Deuce – Gomez
Kljestan
Bradley – Zusi
Williams
F. Johnson – Boca – Cameron – Cherundolo
Howard
Subs:
Guzan
Goodson
Parkhurst
Castillo (maybe in @ LM)
Corona
E. Johnson
Gordon (late game, if chasing a goal)
easy to get a percentage like that when you tend to pass short, sideways and backwards.
If you’re worried about our CB’s getting muscled off the ball, I think Bocanegra is a much better option at CB than Edu, hands down.
Dear Lord,
Please give Sasha the strength and wisdom to make use of the talent you gave him on the international stage. Please don’t let him be a complete pile of Dog-sh*t out on the field.
In the name of Baby Jesus,
Edu put in a solid shift at CB against Mexico despite not being in club form. Against a team like Guatemala he’s not going to get muscled off the ball and is a legit option at CB.
so Jozy plays in all of those defensive minded 3DM alignments and the empty bucket formations, etc. and now when Klinsmann is going to field attacking lienups with the studs back–MB, Clint and LD–guys who can provide service and link up well, Jozy doesn’t even get called in to the mix?
can’t wait for all the brilliant ‘told you sos’ when USMNT forwards score because of all the service they will see with those three all playing out there together linking thru the midfield
COMEDY
Good article on mlssoccer.com….If Gordon gets some playing time, he’s not a “tweener” as in he’s a true number 9. He’s been scoring goals at a better rate per minute even compared to Wondo. He also plays with his back to the goal and takes a beating to bring in other players as Jozy is still working on. Remember, this is only for these games so far. JK said nothing about it being permanent. If Jozy is mature enough, it should light a fire in him to work even harder and never be satisfied at the club, or national team level.
I call Jozy’s tweet a small fire Jason, and then how Klinsmann has handled it gasoline. Took the most inform striker in the pool and melted him down with how he handled it.
Do you believe Klinsmann had all this understood and has done this on purpose with Jozy? or did he perhaps misjudge his player and push the wrong buttons?
Now that is a perfect example of blind and unconditional man-love.
*Beams
To do exactly what?
Please…this board doesnt need any great perspective. Most here are doing just fine with Hyperbole, hate and ignorant analysis, thank you very much!