The USMNT start off their 2018 World Cup campaign next Friday in Qualifiers against St. Vincent & The Grenadines and got things started by announcing the 23 player roster for the games against St. Vincent as well as Trinidad and Tobago.
There are some new faces and a very familiar face left off of this round of call-ups. Here’s the full list.
Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa-EPL), Bill Hamid (D.C. United-MLS), Tim Howard (Everton-EPL)
Defenders: Ventura Alvarado (Club America-Liga MX), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City-MLS), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City-EPL), Fabian Johnson (Borussia Mönchengladbach-Bundesliga), Matt Miazga (New York Red Bulls-MLS), Michael Orozco (Club Tijuana-Liga MX), Tim Ream (Fulham FC-English Championship), Brek Shea (Orlando City SC-MLS)
Midfielders: Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake-MLS), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC-MLS), Mix Diskerud (New York City FC-MLS), Miguel Ibarra (Club Leon-Liga MX), Jermaine Jones (New England Revolution-MLS), Darlington Nagbe (Portland Timbers-MLS), DeAndre Yedlin (Sunderland-EPL)
Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC-MLS), Alan Gordon (LA Galaxy-MLS), Jordan Morris (Stanford-NCAA), Bobby Wood (Union Berlin-2. Bundesliga), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy-MLS)
This is a bit more inexperienced lineup than we have been accustomed to seeing in the past, and that’s saying something with a Jurgen Klinsmann squad. The notable omission to the roster is Clint Dempsey, who is off in order to let others get more experience as well as rest up for the MLS Cup Playoffs with the Seattle Sounders. To be fair, these are qualifiers against St. Vincent & The Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago. If the USMNT cannot comfortably win, even with this lineup, there are way more issues than playing inexperienced players.
On that note, congratulations to Darlington Nagbe and Matt Miazga for their first call-ups to the USMNT. Even though, like Dempsey, Nagbe (with Portland Timbers) and Miazga (with New York Red Bulls) are still in the MLS Cup Playoffs, they are in a very different predicament. Dempsey is a well established person on the USMNT. Nagbe and Miazga have their first opportunity to make an impact on the USMNT and while it’s not at an ideal time, beggars cannot be choosers because they may not get another call-up again.
It is going to be interesting to see who actually starts in these games but I would imagine that Nagbe and Miazga will enter in one of these games just so they are cap tied. This roster certainly indicates that there will be a lot of experimentation. Quite frankly, while I have been critical of Jurgen Klinsmann for being too experimental with his lineups, he probably can afford to do that in these two World Cup Qualifiers.
