LA Galaxy duo Gyasi Zardes and Omar Gonzalez named to U.S. Gold Cup squad

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Galaxy Striker Gyasi Zardes, just named MLS Player of the Week, and defender Omar Gonzalez will report next Monday to the U.S. camp in Nashville ahead of the Gold Cup that begins July 3 with a game against Guatemala in Tennessee before a crowd opf more than 25,000. The pair will leave after Sunday’s game in San Jose against the Earthquakes.

Said coach Jurgen Klinsmann:

“Our approach for putting together the roster for this summer’s Gold Cup, which is very, very important to us, is obviously to do everything possible to win this competition,” he said. “Winning it would qualify us for the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia, so putting the pieces together is very crucial. That’s why we came out with a roster full of quality, but also a lot of experience; players that are used to playing in the CONCACAF region and also younger players that came through the ranks over the last year that made a stamp on the senior National Team program.”

The roster includes 17 players from last year’s World Cup squad.

The complete roster:

Goalkeepers — Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake), William Yarbrough (Club Leon)

Defenders — Ventura Alvarado (Club America), John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Timmy Chandler (Eintracht Frankfurt), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC/), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Fabian Johnson (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Tim Ream (Bolton Wanderers)

Midfielders — Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Mix Diskerud (New York City FC), Alfredo Morales (Ingolstadt), DeAndre Yedlin (Tottenham Hotspur), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)

Forwards — Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Aron Johannsson (AZ Alkmaar), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes).

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Preliminary Gold Cup rosters released: here are the squads for Mexico and the U.S.

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The 35-player provisional squads for the 12 participating nations will be whittled to 23 players on June 23.

The tournament begins July 7.

Mexico:

GK (4) – Luis Michel (Chivas de Guadalajara/Mexico); Moises Muñoz (Club America/Mexico); Guillermo Ochoa (Malaga/Spain); Jonathan Orozco (Monterrey/Mexico)

DF (10) – Paul Aguilar (Club America/Mexico); Oswaldo Alanis (Santos/Mexico); Yasser Corona (Queretaro/Mexico); Miguel Herrera (Pachuca/Mexico); Miguel Layun (Watford/England); Hiram Mier (Monterrey/Mexico); Hector Moreno (Espanyol/Spain); Fernando Navarro (Leon/Mexico); Diego Reyes (Porto/Portugal); Francisco Javier Rodriguez (Cruz Azul/Mexico)

MF (13) – Nestor Calderon (Santos/Mexico); Jonathan Dos Santos (Villarreal/Spain); Jesús Dueñas (Tigres/Mexico); Andres Guardado (PSV Eindhoven/Netherlands); Erick Gutierrez (Pachuca/Mexico); Hector Herrera (Porto/Portugal); Hirving Lozano (Pachuca/Mexico); Jesus Molina (Santos/Mexico); Orbelin Pineda (Queretaro/Mexico); Miguel Ponce (Chivas de Guadalajara/MEX); Antonio Rios (Toluca/Mexico); Jorge Torres Nilo (Tigres/Mexico); Jose Juan Vazquez (Leon/Mexico)

FW (8) – Jesus Corona (FC Twente/Netherlands); Aldo De Nigris (Chivas de Guadalajara/Mexico); Giovani Dos Santos (Villarreal/Spain); Carlos Esquivel (Toluca/Mexico); Javier Hernandez (Real Madrid/Spain); Javier Orozco (Santos/Mexico); Oribe Peralta (Club America/Mexico); Carlos Vela (Real Sociedad/Spain)

USA

GK (4) – Brad Guzan (Aston Villa/England); Bill Hamid (D.C. United/USA); Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake/USA); William Yarbrough (Leon/Mexico)

DF (12) – Ventura Alvarado (Club America/Mexico); DaMarcus Beasley (Houston Dynamo/USA); Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City/USA); John Brooks (Hertha Berlin/Germany); Timmy Chandler (Eintracht Frankfurt/Germany); Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders/USA); Greg Garza (Club Tijuana/Mexico); Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy/USA); Michael Orozco (Puebla/Mexico); Tim Ream (Bolton Wanderers/England); Brek Shea (Orlando City SC/USA); DeAndre Yedlin (Tottenham Hotspur/England)

MF (12) – Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake/USA); Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes/France); Michael Bradley (Toronto FC/Canada); Joe Corona (Club Tijuana/Mexico); Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo/USA); Mix Diskerud (New York City FC/USA); Fabian Johnson (Borussia Mönchengladbach/Germany); Perry Kitchen (D.C. United/USA); Alfredo Morales (Inglostadt 04/Germany); Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution/USA); Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy/USA); Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City/USA)

FW (7) – Juan Agudelo (New England Revolution/USA); Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC/Canada); Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders/USA); Alan Gordon (LA Galaxy/USA); Aron Johannsson (AZ Alkmaar/Netherlands); Jordan Morris (Stanford University/USA); Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes/USA)

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Jamaica, El Salvador, Canada join Costa Rica for July 8 Gold Cup doubleheader at StubHub Center in Carson

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The three nations were added to the Group B field for the Gold Cup, CONCACAF announced today:

The Group B doubleheader action will kick off at 5 p.m. PT as Costa Rica takes on Jamaica at StubHub Center on July 8 followed by a clash between El Salvador and Canada at 7:30 p.m. PT. The CONCACAF Gold Cup will be played throughout North America from July 7-26.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Thursday.

Complete tournament details including the U.S. group opponents are here.

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Weekly Soccer Column: Gold Cup, Olympic qualifying, Women’s World Cup cram 2015 international calendar

Need a cheat sheet to keep up? Check out this week’s 100 Percent Soccer column

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Spanish language Gold Cup viewership double that of English language coverage

More than twice as many American soccer/futbol fans watched Univision’s coverage of the U.S. Gold Cup victory over Panama Sunday compared to those watching in English on Fox.

Fox announced today that an average of 2.4 million viewers watched the game on the channel, tying the figure for the networks’ most -watched soccer game ever, the 2011 UEFA Champions League final.

That translates into a rating of 2.4 and a share of 4 (which means 4 percent of all television sets turned on at the time were tuned to Fox).

However, an average of 4.9 million fans watched on Univision — and, of course, Mexico wasn’t even playing.

 

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Red-hot Landon Donovan continues plundering Gold Cup with two goals to lead U.S. to Sunday’s final

Landon Donovan has three goals and six assists in 13 appearances for the Galaxy in 2013.

But for the U.S. Donovan has seven Gold Cup assists and a team-leading seven goals in six games since rejoining the national team set-up after scoring twice and creating the opener in a 3-1 win over Honduras Wednesday to send the U.S. through to a 1 p.m. Sunday Gold Cup final (live on Fox and Univision) against Panama, who upset Mexico for a second time in the tournament in Wednesday’s other semifinal.

Donovan’s seven assists increased his national team record total to 55 career assists in 150 games, while his record-setting U.S. goal total jumped to 56 career goals.

The likely upshot of Wednesday’s results: Donovan will rejoin the U.S. World Cup qualifying campaign, while El Tri will seek a new coach.

Notable: The Gold Cup winner qualifies for a playoff against the winner of the 2015 tournament to determine the CONCACAF entrant in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia.

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