U.S. Men's Roster Almost Set For Scotland, Brazil & Canada Friendlies

It's almost here, after months of waiting the U.S. men's national team is less than a week away from beginning a very important stretch of games.

They are training in Orlando, FL until May 25. Jurgen Klinsmann's team plays Scotland on Saturday (8 p.m., NBC Sports Network) in Jacksonville then goes to Landover, MD to play Brazil a week from Wednesday-May 30 (8 p.m., ESPN2). Today, Klinsmann announced his full 27-man roster, adding 11 to a group of 16 that was already selected. It will be reduced to 23 for the trio of friendlies. They're also playing Canada in Toronto on June 3 (7 p.m., NBC Sports Network) in the final match before World Cup qualifying begins in Tampa Bay on June 8 (7 p.m., ESPN) vs. mighty Antigua and Barbuda (which apparently is a real place).

UPDATED U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION
GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS (8): Carlos Bocanegra (Rangers), Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo), Edgar Castillo (Club Tijuana), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Alfredo Morales (Hertha Berlin), Oguchi Onyewu (Sporting Lisbon), Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaelland)
MIDFIELDERS (9): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Chievo Verona), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04), Jose Torres (Pachuca), Danny Williams (Hoffenheim), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)
FORWARDS (7): Juan Agudelo (Chivas USA), Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar), Terrence Boyd (Borussia Dortmund), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Herculez Gomez (Santos), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)

From ussoccer.com
“We are excited now to get towards full numbers with the MLS guys and also the players from Europe who are coming in with great form,” said Klinsmann. “We want them to pick up the rhythm as fast as possible and make them understand that we are taking the next couple weeks very seriously. We will continue with our rhythm of two trainings a day and see where the players are really at before we make our final decisions on the 23-man roster for the upcoming games.”

ADDITIONAL ROSTER NOTES

Jozy Altidore finished his first season at AZ Alkmaar with 19 goals in all competitions, including 15 in league play and four in the Europa League.
Landon Donovan returns to the National Team for the first time since September of 2011. The USA’s all-time leading scorer also has the most appearances for any U.S. player in World Cup qualifying (35).

Chris Wondolowski is atop the MLS goalscoring chart, having tallied 11 goals in 12 matches for San Jose.

Oguchi Onyewu and Sporting Lisbon are playing in the Portuguese Cup final against Académica, seeking their 20th cup title.

With 19 goals in all competitions in the last year, Herculez Gomez could become the first U.S. player to win both an MLS Cup title and Mexican League title. Santos plays at home tonight against Monterrey in the second leg of the Liguilla final, having tied 1-1 in the first match.

Terrence Boyd finished with 20 goals for Borussia Dortmund’s second team, scoring a goal in the final that helped the team gain promotion to the Third Division.
Clarence Goodson captains Brondby today against Michael Parkhurst and Nordsjaelland. The visitors sit in second place in the league with two matches remaining, one point behind Copenhagen. If Nordsjaelland remain in the championship, Parkhurst will play the final match. If they are eliminated from winning the title, he reports tomorrow.

Juan Agudelo comes to camp just days after being traded to Chivas USA from the New York Red Bulls. Agudelo started in their 1-0 victory against the LA Galaxy last night.

Geoff Cameron and Graham Zusi both started the USA’s first two matches of 2012, consecutive 1-0 victories against Venezuela and Panama. Zusi scored the game-winner against Panama in only his second appearance for the United States.

The U.S. is riding a four-game win streak, including the memorable 1-0 win in Italy. A remarkable 42 players have earned caps since Klinsmann took over last summer. You'd have to say that with that type of review, he must have a pretty good feel for what the U.S. currently has in the pipeline in terms of national team caliber players.

These first three friendlies should all be interesting as the Americans compete against a European team that they rarely see (Scotland), the five-time world champions (Brazil) and one of their natural rivals (Canada).

The epic Champions League Final yesterday (Chelsea's improbable win at Bayern Munich) in penalty kicks was a perfect prelude to the summer of soccer: the U.S. men's and women's friendlies, Euro 2012, World Cup qualifying and 2012 Olympics will serve to not only distract us from boring baseball but remind us how good we have it right now in this country in terms of soccer options.

UPDATE 5/25: Morales, Williams, Zusi and Agudelo were the four players left off the final 23-man roster for the five games (3 friendlies, 2 World Cup qualifiers). I don't have a problem with any of those guys not playing although it is troubling that Agudelo's development has seemingly had a big rut.

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