Lee Nguyen is back in the fold for the US.
Neil W. Blackmon
Ready or not, the US will play Mexico October 10 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The winner of that match will advance to the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. Despite the fact that the match is over a month away, and there’s not really a precedent for needing preliminary rosters ahead of one-match playoffs, we already have preliminary rosters for the match, because CONCACAF.
Here are the rosters, quick points of analysis after the break.
MEXICO
GK (4) – Guillermo Ochoa (Malaga/Spain); Moises Munoz (Club America/Mexico); Alfredo Talavera (Toluca/Mexico); Jonathan Orozco (Monterrey/Mexico)
DF (10) – Paul Aguilar (Club America/Mexico); Diego Reyes (Real Sociedad/Spain); Rafael Marquez (Hellas Verona/Italy); Hector Moreno (PSV Eindhoven/Netherlands); Miguel Layun (Porto/Portugal); Hector Herrera (Porto, Portugal); Oswaldo Alanis (Guadalajara/Mexico); Arturo Rivas (Tigres/Mexico); Miguel Herrera (Pachuca/Mexico); Jorge Torres Nilo (Tigres/Mexico)
MF (9)
Israel Jimenez (Tigres/Mexico); Andres Guardado (PSV Eindhoven; Netherlands); Jose Juan Vazquez (Leon/Mexico); Jesus Duenas (Tigres/Mexico); Javier Aquino (Tigres/Mexico); Jonathan Dos Santos (Villarreal/ Spain); Luis Montes (Leon/Mexico); Carlos Pena (Leon/Mexico); Javier Guemez (Club America/Mexico)
FW (9) – Oribe Peralta (Club America/Mexico); Raul Jimenez (Benfica/Portugal); Carlos Vela (Real Sociedad/Spain); Carlos Esquivel (Toluca/Mexico); Jesus Corona (Porto/Portugal); Javier Hernandez (Bayer Leverkusen/Germany); Elias Hernandez (Leon/Mexico); Jurgen Damm (Tigres/Mexico); Giovani Dos Santos (LA Galaxy/United States)
USA
GK (4) – Brad Guzan (Aston Villa/England); Bill Hamid (D.C. United/USA); Tim Howard (Everton/England); Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake/USA)
DF (12) – Ventura Alvarado (Club America/Mexico); DaMarcus Beasley (Houston Dynamo/USA); Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City/USA); John Brooks (Hertha Berlin/Germany); Geoff Cameron (Stoke City/England); Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC/USA); Greg Garza (Atlas/Mexico); Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy/USA); Michael Orozco (Club Tijuana/Mexico); Tim Ream (Fulham/England); Jonathan Spector (Birmingham City/England); DeAndre Yedlin (Sunderland/England)
MF (12) – Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake/USA); Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes/France); Michael Bradley (Toronto FC/Canada); Joe Corona (Veracruz/Mexico); Mix Diskerud (New York City FC/USA); Fabian Johnson (Borussia Mönchengladbach/Germany); Jermaine Jones (New England Revolution/USA); Alfredo Morales (FC Ingolstadt/Germany); Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution/USA); Danny Williams (Reading/England); Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy/USA); Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City/USA)
FW (7) – Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC/Canada); Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC/USA); Alan Gordon (LA Galaxy/USA); Aron Johansson (Werder Bremen/Germany); Jordan Morris (Stanford University/USA); Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes/USA); Bobby Wood (Union Berlin/Germany)
There’s still not a coherent argument for the exclusion of Sacha Kljestan or Sporting KC’s Benny Feilhaber.
Quick Thoughts:
1. There’s still no coherent argument for the exclusion of Benny Feilhaber, and yes, Sacha Kljestan. I’ve been joking a bit on Twitter about how the only two midfield players in the US player pool who have featured in competitive match victories over Mexico are Sacha Kljestan and Benny Feilhaber, and while that’s true, it’s mostly Soccer Twitter snark that perhaps belittles an important point: the US midfield lack in-form players (see MB 90’s giveaway this weekend, or Graham Zusi’s, etc), and two of the three that are in form aren’t here.
2. Lee Nguyen is here, which fascinates a bit. The US need a player with bad hair. They also need a playmaker in the center of the field or at the least a player who can help them keep the ball and/or dictate tempo a bit. Nguyen meets these criteria. Nguyen is also the MLS midfielder in the preliminary group in the best form, and he benefits from playing with Jermaine Jones all the time. He was the best midfielder in MLS last year by some distance, and his repeated call-ups by Klinsmann at least suggest the enigmatic manager will give him a long look. Nguyen has a handful of matches prior to the break for the playoff camp: if he keeps up his current form (3 goals and 3 assists in 8 matches), he’ll have a legitimate claim on a roster spot.
3. Bill Hamid is in the team even though he probably won’t be in the final one.
Don’t want to spend too many letters on 4th string goalkeepers, but given Klinsmann’s continual omission of Hamid through the summer, it seems a nice nod to the DC United man’s sizeable talent that Klinsmann has included him in the preliminary roster. Hamid has been MLS’s best keeper this year and has been it by some distance– it is good to see the manager recognize that.
Brek Shea is healthy, but not in the preliminary roster, a gamble given the US FB concerns.
4. Fullback is still a significant concern.
Fabian Johnson is still recovering from a muscle tear suffered immediately after the Gold Cup, Timothy Chandler is out of this team due to injury, and DaMarcus Beasley is also recovering from an injury. That made the exclusion of Brek Shea at least somewhat curious– Shea seemed to be in favor this summer and has returned to the field for Orlando City, where he played well despite a petulant yellow card in a win over Sporting Kansas City Sunday night. Shea’s not a natural defender, but his omission means Klinsmann is certainly expecting clean bills of health for his first team fullbacks over the next month.
5. Fifteen months after the Jozy Altidore injury against Ghana, and the US aren’t much closer to finding answers if Altidore isn’t in-form or fit.
The US have tried and failed repeatedly to develop a target forward since Brian McBride left the picture after the 2008 Olympic Games, and in terms of developing a high-level scorer, they’ve been Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore or bust since Charlie Davies car accident in the autumn of 2009.
A whole column could be written on the subject- and we’ve done that from time to time- but the inclusion of Alan Gordon in both the Gold Cup team and this preliminary roster demonstrate the depths of the problem at the target position, and the continued inclusion of Chris Wondolowski, a tremendous MLS scorer but an aging and increasingly less-useful international, demonstrates the problem finding scorers. It’s a problem that has American fans far too excited about Bobby Wood, an intriguing but still young second division forward in Germany, and Jordan Morris, a fast and extremely raw player who plays in the long-revered Pac 12 league.
Klinsmann’s options, as such, are extremely limited, and coming off a Gold Cup where a 32 year old forward scored 3/4”s of the team’s goals, it’s hard to see where he gets a spark.
Neil W. Blackmon is Co-Founder of The Yanks Are Coming. Follow him on Twitter @nwblackmon.