US Soccer have announced their 23-man squad for the 2013 Gold Cup.

U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION

GOALKEEPERS (3) : Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)

DEFENDERS (8) : Corey Ashe (Houston Dynamo), DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla), Tony Beltran (Real Salt Lake), Edgar Castillo (Club Tijuana), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Oguchi Onyewu (Malaga), Michael Orozco Fiscal (Puebla), Michael Parkhurst (FC Augsburg)

MIDFIELDERS (7) : Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Alejandro Bedoya (Helsinborg), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Mix Diskerud (Rosenborg), Joshua Gatt (Molde FK), Stuart Holden (Bolton), Jose Torres (Tigres)

FORWARDS (5) : Will Bruin (Houston Dynamo), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Herculez Gomez (Club Tijuana), Jack McInerney (Philadelphia Union), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes) 

MOREKlinsmann’s experimental US squad for Gold Cup will reveal true depth.

The US team is in the same group as Belize, Costa Rica and Cuba. The US men’s national team schedule for the first round games are:

  • July 9 against Belize, 11pm ET in Portland, Oregon
  • July 13 against Cuba, 4:30pm ET in Salt Lake City, Utah, and
  • July 16 against Costa Rica, 8pm ET in East Hartford, Connecticut.

“We are excited about a roster for the Gold Cup that really has a shot of winning it,” said Klinsmann.  “First, you want to win a Confederation competition, which is a 50 percent ticket to the Confederations Cup in Russia,” said Klinsmann. “We don’t want to watch the Confederations Cup on TV anymore; we want to be there. At the same time, the players that are representing us in this Gold Cup, they clearly know that this a huge opportunity to prove their value and their case to the coaching staff one year prior to the World Cup. So, two big things, one is to win the competition and two, allow the players to build their case for the World Cup.”

The winner of the 2013 Gold Cup will compete in a playoff with the winner of the 2015 event for the right to represent CONCACAF at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. The U.S. has reached the final of the Gold Cup in five of the last six tournaments, winning three titles.

What are your thoughts about the US roster that Jurgen Klinsmann has selected for the Gold Cup? It’s obviously a younger team and a great opportunity to test different players who normally wouldn’t get much playing time. Share your opinions below.