Mostly made up of Major League Soccer talent, U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has called up 22 players for the friendly on April 2nd versus border rivals Mexico.
The clock is ticking, and this will be the last time Klinsmann will be able to notice players before he calls his squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup preparation camp
“This is a huge opportunity for our players to show where they are at and to make their case,” said Klinsmann. “We expect them to give a really strong performance against a Mexican team that is now basically coming back on track. They need to prove now that they badly want to go to Brazil.”
The biggest news of the 22-man roster has to be Bayern Munich forward Julian Green, who pledged his allegiance to the United States Men’s National Team last week after applying for a one-time association change to FIFA, is in the squad.
Although the vast majority of the roster is made up of players from MLS, with a total of 19 players from 11 clubs, the Puebla duo of DaMarcus Beasley and Michael Orozco represents Liga MX. Since the match does not fall on an international fixture date, most of the European-based players will not be available. However, Bayern Munich forward Green has been released by his club to participate in what could be his first match representing the red, white, and blue.
Seattle Sounders FC has three players called up — USMNT captain Clint Dempsey, Brad Evans and DeAndre Yedlin who finished third in the 2013 MLS Rookie of the Year voting. This is Yedlin’s second camp for the Senior Team following the game against Korea. He was also part of the 2013 U.S. U-20 World Cup team and started all three matches of the tournament.
Another big part of the 22 players called up is Real Salk Lake keeper Nick Rimando, who backstopped the team in 2013 Gold Cup, collecting five victories and earning a shutout in the final, a 1-0 win against Panama. With the win against Korea Republic in January, he improved his career record to a perfect 10-0-0 all-time.
Kickoff for the USA’s final match before the start of the 2014 FIFA World Cup preparation camp is set for 8 p.m. Arizona Time (11 p.m. ET), and the match will be broadcast live on ESPN, WatchESPN, UniMas and the ESPN Deportes Radio Network.
U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS (8): DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Clarence Goodson (San Jose Earthquakes), Michael Orozco (Puebla), Michael Parkhurst (Columbus Crew), DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle Sounders FC)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Philadelphia Union), Luis Gil (Real Salt Lake), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)
FORWARDS (4): Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Julian Green (Bayern Munich), Eddie Johnson (D.C. United), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)
