By Garrett Pasono
With the World Cup only a month away, teams are beginning to unveil their rosters that they will bring to Brazil. England and host nation Brazil have left home some big names to begin the era of their youth players and with that, people were very interested to see what head coach Jurgen Klinsmann would do with his squad.
What Klinsmann did was a little different. Yesterday he named a 30-man preliminary roster. That group will begin training camp at Stanford University on Wednesday 5/14, and will play Azerbaijan on May 27, Turkey on June 1, and Nigeria on June 7. Klinsmann has said that after the game on June 1, he will cut the roster to the final 23 man squad for Brazil.
The roster that Klinsmann chose is as follows:
Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
Defenders: DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Timmy Chandler (Nürnberg), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Clarence Goodson (San Jose Earthquakes), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Michael Parkhurst (Columbus Crew), DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle Sounders FC)
Midfielders: Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Mix Diskerud (Rosenborg), Maurice Edu (Philadelphia Union), Julian Green (Bayern Munich), Jermaine Jones (Besiktas), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)
Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Sunderland), Terrence Boyd (Rapid Vienna), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Aron Johannsson (AZ Alkmaar), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)
Many of the selections were as expected (Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore, etc). The roster includes 10 players that were on the 2010 World Cup team and 15 players that are based in the MLS.
The preliminary roster also features some young, new talent in Julian Green (18 years old), DeAndre Yedlin (20), and John Brooks (21).
Of course some players had to be left off the squad and the biggest surprise was Eddie Johnson. Johnson co-led the team in appearances and netted 5 goals last year for the national team. In addition to Johnson, names like Brek Shea, Michael Orozco, Juan Agudelo and a few others were left off the team sheet.
Now that we have a look at who’s going for the US, we can legitimately discuss their chances in the so-called “group of death” this summer.
The US will open up against their recent rival Ghana on June 16 in Natal. The importance of this game goes unspoken, as Ghana has eliminated the US in the past two World Cups. Ghana will feature a similar squad in regards to the 2010 World Cup. The roster featured quite a surprise however, as John Mensah, their captain in 2010, did not make the final 23. The first game of the tournament is always the most important and with the remaining games for the US, they will need to take three points from this match.
Prediction: USA-2 Ghana-1
Six days later, the US will head to Manaus to take on Portugal. In perhaps the best season of his career, Balon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo leads a Portugal side carrying very high expectations this summer. A lot of questions will be asked of the US defenders in this match, most of them having to do with Ronaldo. If the US defenders can frustrate and suppress Ronaldo, then they have a very strong chance of taking points from this game. Portugal does not have the strongest of defenses so the US will get their chances to score, the question is, can they stop Portugal from doing the same. It will not be an easy task, but it has to be done for the US to have a chance at advancing.
Prediction: USA-1 Portugal-1
Their final group stage game will be on June 26 in Recife against Germany. Just like in past World Cups and European competitions, the Germans bring an extremely strong squad to Brazil and are one of the favorites to lift the trophy in July. Manager Joachim Low has left off a few experienced players including forward Mario Gomez, who has struggled with injuries this season. Low will be scrutinized this summer, as this is his fourth major competition as German manager and has yet to win a trophy. It is possible that the Germans could be resting players by this game, but nothing is definite. I think that the Germans are just too strong for the United States in this one, but I think 4 points is enough to get them through.
Prediction: USA-0 Germany-2
The road for the US to advance to the knockout stage is clearly a tough one, but the team has proven before that they can thrive in the underdog role. Don’t be surprised to see them make a run to get out of the group.
As bold as it is, I see the US finishing second in the group behind Germany, advancing to the knockout stage.
No matter what, you can guarantee that the US fans will be out in full force to support the boys this summer. Go Go USA!
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