Altidore & Gonzalez in, Jones and Marshall out for U.S.-Brazil friendly

Strange stuff for the U.S. men's national team as they switched up two players for the roster against Brazil next week.

After being named to the initial 23-man roster yesterday, Jermaine Jones and Chad Marshall had the rug pulled out from under them with Jozy Altidore and Omar Gonzalez replacing them.

Jones had been set to make his U.S. debut after playing three exhibitions for Germany and being approved for a switch last year by FIFA. The U.S. Soccer Federation said Thursday that after accepting the invitation, he decided to remain with his club ahead of its opener at Hamburg on Aug. 21. Jones missed last season because of a shin injury.

"I would like to thank Bob Bradley and the U.S. federation greatly for my first official invitation," Jones said in a statement released by his agent. "It is an honor that I have been working towards for over a year, and while I initially felt like I was ready to make my first appearance, it is also extremely important to me that I am 100 percent fit for my first national team game and that I make a good impression on the manager and my teammates.

"I hope to receive another invitation and finally fulfill my goal of playing with the U.S. national team in the very near future."

Gonzalez, last year's Major League Soccer rookie of the year, could make his international debut.

Altidore, who has nine goals in 29 appearances, returned to Spain's Villarreal this week after being loaned to Hull last season.

Ticket sales for the match at the New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., have topped 58,000 for the match, the first for both nations on the road to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Personally, I am disappointed that we won't see Jones yet but if he thinks he's not ready, that's understandable. Chad Marshall doesn't do anything for me and while I love Jozy Altidore, it didn't break my heart to not see him on this roster since we'll get our fill of him for the next 10+ years.

Omar Gonzalez is an intriguing wild card and since I don't follow the MLS at all, I honestly had never heard of him before today. Sad, I know.

Kaka out 3-4 months following knee surgery

It has not been a good few months for Kaka and it just got even worse.

The Brazil and Real Madrid star midfielder will be out for the next 3-4 months following knee surgery.

The Spanish club said Thursday that Kaka left the team's camp in Los Angeles to have the operation on his meniscus in Antwerp, Belgium.

Madrid coach Jose Mourinho said "if we lose him for some time it's no drama, we have other players, but he's one of the best in the world."

The team said a routine medical exam performed on Kaka after the Brazil international returned from vacation revealed a problem with his left knee.

Hindsight being 20/20 as always, perhaps this is why he wasn't up to his usual sublime standards at the 2010 World Cup. Or maybe he just didn't play well, who knows? Regardless, hopefully he gets better and can go back to being himself, an out of this world talent for both his club and country.

Just call me the Ghost

So I got a text from Rich last night, "where you been man? I know you were in Ohio, but you've been a ghost lately."

Truthfully there's no real explanation, I've just been stuck in a rut and haven't gotten myself back into a rhythm since the World Cup ended. I definitely needed a little time there to recharge the batteries, but Rich has been completely carrying the team as we begin to near the new European campaign. Well starting today is where I get out of my Big Papi like 2-45 April slump and get back on the horse.

We don't know how much longer Bob Bradley will be in charge of the Men's National Team, his contract expires in December. I honestly have to applaud Bradley, and maybe even give him a standing ovation because I think he's done a sensational job building the team back up after their terrible World Cup tournament in 2006 under Bruce Arena.

I for one wanted Jurgen Klinsmann to take over the position after his brilliant performance guiding Germany to third place in that same 2006 tournament, but instead we got Bradley - a man at the time I did not know much about other than the fact a somewhat mixed performance as a coach in the MLS.

Yet Bradley has done yeoman's work guiding the team to the 2007 CONCAF Golf Cup title, a shocking runner's up place at the 2009 Confederation's Cup in which the team upset then No. 1 ranked Spain and nearly pulled of another monumental upset over Brazil, and then most recently helped the U.S. win its group stage for the first time in 80 years. You can't deny all of those were fabulous.

Additionally, Bradley has been responsible for capping many young players and sticking with them. Players like Michael Bradley, Charlie Davies, Jozy Altidore all received their first senior team caps under Bradley and these are a few of the guys that will be the core nucleus for the U.S. for the next couple of World Cups.

That practice will continue next week likely as Jermaine Jones was called into the fold as part of the 18-man roster for the U.S. match against Brazil in the New Meadowlands. After FIFA allowed Jones to switch alliances to the U.S. (his father is an American) after having made three appearances for Germany, he likely would have been a contributor in South Africa had he not broken his shin this past season. But it will be interesting to see what the defensive Schalke midfeilder could potentially matched up with Michael Bradley in the middle as that combination could be the future center midfield tandem for the U.S.

Three other players were picked that were cut off the 30-man preliminary roster before the World Cup: Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Alejandro Bedoja (Orebro), and Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht). I will be very interested how the 25-year-old Marshall plays considering the entire makeup of the defense could and should be different entering the next World Cup, and Marshall was likely the last cut off the defense before the tournament. Only really Steve Cherundolo had any semblance of a good tournament in the back in South Africa, point in fact he was terrific, but he would be 35 at the start of the 2014 World Cup, so he probably won't make it.

The last 14 guys on the roster are all World Cup players, which I am happy to see. Brazil may be sending a young team, but this young team is filled with guys that are already established stars like Pato and Robinho and potential future stars like Santos striker Neymar and Manchester United defender Rafael.

Here's the breakdown:

Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, England), Tim Howard (Everton, England)

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Etienne, France), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA),Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, Germany), Clarence Goodson (IK Start, Norway), Chad Marshall (Columbus), Jonathan Spector (West Ham, England)

Midfielders: Alejandro Bedoya (Orebro, Sweden), Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach, Germany), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus, Denmark), Jermaine Jones (Schalke, Germany), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht, Belgium)

Forwards: Edson Buddle (Los Angeles), Robbie Findley (Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez(Pachuca, Mexico)

We'll always have your mohawk, you bozo

Along the same line of where has the time gone comes the news that uberbozo Clint Mathis is retiring this weekend from the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Don't remember him? Country boy with an awful mohawk was the talk of the U.S. men's national team before and during the 2002 World Cup. The team had its best finish ever which helped this vastly overrated player parlay his fifteen minutes of fame into a decent MLS career.

The team said Tuesday that the 33-year-old midfielder will end his 11-year Major League Soccer career after Saturday's exhibition against Real Madrid at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Mathis began his career with the Galaxy in 1998, the first of three stints he had with the team. He left in 2000, then returned briefly following the end of the 2007 MLS season, and was reacquired from Real Salt Lake in January.

Mathis played for the U.S. national team in the 2002 World Cup, when his left-footed goal gave the Americans a 1-1 tie with host South Korea and helped them reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 1930. He made 46 appearances for the U.S., all under coach Bruce Arena.

Mathis also played for New York and Colorado, and had stints in Germany and Greece.

I have nothing against Mathis, if anything I applaud his ability (pre-Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc) to become famous for so little. Plus, as is usually the case when somebody retires or dies, we gloss over the forgettable, yucky stuff and remember them for the best moments of their life.

Damn, we are getting old

Everyone knows that professional athletes careers are extremely short (by and large) so this should come as no surprise when some of our favorite players retire and now are ready for induction into the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame.

Retired players Thomas Dooley, Preki Radosavljevic and Kyle Rote Jr. will be inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame along with former coach Bruce Arena before the U.S.-Brazil exhibition game at the New Meadowlands Stadium.

The U.S. Soccer Federation said the induction on Aug. 10 will take place in the afternoon at a private ceremony. Inductees will be acknowledged on the field before kickoff in East Rutherford, N.J.

Arena is coach of Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy and Preki is coach of Toronto FC.

The National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum shut down its building in Oneonta, N.Y., in January.

It's depressing that the Soccer Hall of Fame currently seems to be without a home; I wish I had been there when it was open, I pass through that god-forsaken part of Upstate NY every time I went to see my cousins, aunt and uncle in Watkins Glen, NY.

Torres and Gerrard want to stay at Liverpool, Mascherano not so much

One of the most persistent rumors since Liverpool crapped out last season in the EPL and failed to qualify for the Champions League was that they would have a massive overhaul.

For now, I'm happy to say that Fernando Torres was quoted as saying he's happy to be "stay at the best club in the world." The Spanish striker was back at training after winning the 2010 World Cup with Spain and he said all the right things.

"My commitment and loyalty to the club and to the fans is the same as it was on my first day when I signed. I am looking forward to the challenge ahead," Torres said. "I am really happy to be back, really happy to stay with all my team-mates.

"This is the best club in the country so the targets and expectations are always high. At Liverpool the aim is to fight for every title. It was difficult last season, but we are sure we can improve this season."

New Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson always maintained that he wanted to keep the Reds' record-signing at the club and Torres said he was impressed to have been paid a personal visit.

"I really appreciated the fact that Roy came out to see me while I was on my holidays," Torres said. "He told me about his plans for the club and what he wanted from me and I appreciated that.

"I hope he will be the right man to reach the targets of Liverpool Football Club and I am really looking forward to working with him. At the moment I am training just on my own but as soon as I can I will train with the team and with the new manager."

Coach Rafael Benitez left after last season but his time was up anyways and that was expected. Hodgson has replaced him (from Fulham) and he also has captain Steven Gerrard back in the fold after Captain Fantastic pledged his commitment to Liverpool after the World Cup with England.

The only player looking to get out of Anfield is midfielder Javier Mascherano, who wants to get back with Benitez at Inter Milan. However, Hodgson won't let the Argentine leave without receiving around 25 million pounds in return.

Robben to miss two months for Bayern Munich

Arjen Robben has always been one of my favorite players since he was on Chelsea and now that he's at Bayern Munich, Shimer has grown to love the injury-prone but incredibly skilled Dutchman.

Coming off a superb 2010 World Cup (minus two breakaways he couldn't bury against Spain in the final) comes the terrible news that Robben will miss the next two months for Bayern.

This story gets messy since the German club claims that Robben was injured in a Netherlands warm-up match before the World Cup and his recovery was sped up, causing a misdiagnosis. Yikes.

The cost of that is now being paid as tests conducted on Tuesday found a tear in the hamstring that was not properly diagnosed earlier.

"It is a clear tear," Bayern club doctor Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt said. "I find it irresponsible that this was not diagnosed accurately and that Arjen has played with it. I offered several times to help with the diagnosis but was not called."

The injury will rule Robben out of the start of the Bundesliga campaign and the opening Champions League matches.

"This diagnosis after my return to Bayern is a shock," Robben said. "I am very disappointed. The enforced break is bitter for me and the team."

Bayern will now seek compensation from the Dutch federation (KNVB) and have asked FIFA to step in as a mediator if necessary.

"Of course, Bayern Munich are very angry," chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said. "Once again we must pay the bill as a club after a player is seriously injured playing for a national team."

If this is true, Robben should be lauded for playing through pain while the Dutch training staff deserves some form of punishment for looking the other way while one of their stars risked serious injury.