Bob Bradley names an 18 man squad to face Brazil
GOALKEEPERS (2): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton)
DEFENDERS (6): Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Étienne), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Alejandro Bedoya (Örebro), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Jermaine Jones (Schalke), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht)
FORWARDS (3): Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez (Pachuca)
German born Jermaine Jones, Schalke’s holding midfielder will get a chance to take to the pitch for his US debut. A shin injury kept him out of consideration for the World Cup after opting out of representing Germany last year, so this is big news.
Bradley also named Alejandro Bedoya, Sacha Kljestan, and Chad Marshall to the squad. Players who were omitted because of pre-season commitments included Stuart Holden, Clint Dempsey, Jay DeMerit, and Jozy Altidore
Altidore is in the market for a club. Rumours are that he may land up in the Turkish Super Lig, possibly Besiktas on a loan spell.
Charlie Davies and Oguchi Onyewu have fitness issues.
No real big surprises. Great to see Bedoya and Jones get call ups but the squad does not do much for the talent waiting in the wings.
A good opportunity to blood central defender Omar Gonzalez or Tim Ream already highly touted prospects, give more exposure to Jose Francisco Torres as a playmaker (we really don’t have one and the US needs better ball control), and maybe give another chance to Freddy Adu in the wilderness.
Then again Bradley is just being cautious. He has always been risk averse and even more so with his future hanging in limbo – his contract runs out in December and so far there has been no movement from the USSF. They are probably in a wait and watch mode. A good performance against Brazil could see his stock rise.
3 comments on “Jermaine Jones named to US squad against Brazil”
Good post. I’m a little disappointed with the squad. On paper it’s a pretty good one for giving us at least a shot at a win or draw, but from a development standpoint for kicking off the 2014 cycle I’m not very thrilled. I would’ve liked to see a lot more experimentation on the back line. And you’re right about Torres. Our midfield is our most talented pool of players but we still have trouble setting the pace of matches, so it would be nice to see someone like him get a central role.
d, looks like Jermaine Jones is not going to play- strangely, Jozy Altidore is. Omar Gonzalez gets a call up too. With Torres, the US needs to be patient enough to see through to the dividends. They have gotten so used to the scrambling counterattacking mode that spending time on ball possession and goal creation is a waste of time. But matches like Brazil provide opportunities to develop that facet. But Bradley is not going to do that – you need a change in coaching philosophy.
Just read that Torres picked up a knock in training and that may explain his absence from the squad.