By DAN KARELL
It turns out Brek Shea won’t be leaving the United States Men’s National Team roster after all.
USMNT head coach Jurgen Klinsmann announced on Saturday that Shea will be taking the place of the injured Joshua Gatt in the Gold Cup roster. The Stoke City midfielder was due to return to his club in advance of the upcoming English Premier League season.
As reported previously by SBI on Wednesday, Gatt was ruled out of the Gold Cup after having his injured knee evaluated by the Molde FK training staff. The 21-year-old midfielder injured his knee in a Molde match last Saturday.
“It’s a very unfortunate situation for Josh,” said U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann in a press release. “This is now a couple of times that he has been injured after receiving a call up to the National Team, and it must be frustrating and disappointing. He has been making great progress and we were really looking forward to the opportunity to see him in action. We wish him all the best.”
Shea, who moved to Stoke City this past January from FC Dallas, has had to overcome numerous injury troubles of his own over the last six months, and struggled to earn much playing time this past season under Tony Pulis.
Klinsmann also announced that D.C. United midfielder Chris Pontius has been added to the provisional 35-man roster. The Gold Cup Committee recently agreed to adjust some tournament rules by allowing every team in the competition to make up to three changes to their 23-man and 35-man rosters before July 6 at 12pm.
What do you think of this decision? Who would you have replaced Gatt with?
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