Fresh off their historic 1-0 win in Mexico on August 15 (albeit in a friendly), the U.S. men's national team gets back to business in terms of 2014 World Cup qualifying as they travel to Kingston, Jamaica on Friday night (8 p.m., not on TV here) to play Jamaica. Then the Reggae Boyz come to Columbus, Ohio for a rematch on September 11 (8 p.m., ESPN 2, ESPN3.com).
Today, head coach Jurgen Klinsmann selected 24 players to train for the vital pair of Group A matches. Keep in mind that midfielders Michael Bradley and Landon Donovan are both unavailable because of injuries. Interestingly enough, the U.S. has never won a World Cup qualifier in Jamaica, they have only settled for four ties.
U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION
GOALKEEPERS (4): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS (9): Carlos Bocanegra (Racing Santander), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Maurice Edu (Stoke City), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Michael Orozco Fiscal (San Luis), Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaelland), Jonathan Spector (Birmingham City)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04), Brek Shea (FC Dallas), Jose Torres (Pachuca), Danny Williams (Hoffenheim), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)
FORWARDS (4): Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar), Terrence Boyd (Rapid Vienna), Clint Dempsey (Tottenham Hotspur), Herculez Gomez (Santos)
18 American players were part of the 3-1 win vs. Antigua and Barbuda on June 8 and the 1-1 tie vs. Guatemala on June 12. 20 of the Americans currently compete on a European club with five in the English Premier League. In total, they play in nine countries.
2012 has been very good to the U.S. men, they are 6-1-2 with five shutouts. Their signature moments have been their first-ever win (1-0) in Italy (February 29) and their inaugural victory in Mexico that I already referred to. Beating Jamaica on their home soil isn't at that level but it would still be a nice addition to this impressive resume. Jamaica is tied atop Group A with four points after two matches but the U.S. leads with a better goal differential.
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