Leap of Faith USAvHON WCQualifiers Gameday live at 7:55 p.m. on Fox Sports 1 and UniMas

Posted on March 24, 2017 by Nick Green

We've got a @ussoccer MATCHDAY at @AvayaStadium!

Here's everything you need to know about #USAvHON: https://t.co/CoD0apxaUs | #Get3 pic.twitter.com/x5CwpLsbzc

— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) March 24, 2017

USA v Honduras kickoff Friday just got a few mins later: 7:55 pm local, 10:55 on East Coast #usmnt

— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) March 23, 2017

Tonight's Hex matches:#TRIvPAN (Port of Spain)#MEXvCRC (Mexico City)#USAvHON (San Jose, California) pic.twitter.com/BvVVVojujg

— Nathan Carr (@caribbeanftbl) March 24, 2017

It's game day everyone and it's time to #get3 !

If your not in San Jose, come to our watch party. https://t.co/P25HSosW2K pic.twitter.com/dfoaUpX4G6

— AO Inland Empire (@AOInlandEmpire) March 24, 2017

Tonight is a massive night in our @ussoccer history. Let's all get out of our comfort zone, take a leap of faith… https://t.co/4DZr8TQNUd

— Landon Donovan (@landondonovan) March 24, 2017

CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinal, semifinal sites announced

Posted on February 14, 2017 by Damian Calhoun

The sites for the knockout rounds of the CONCACAF Gold Cup were announced Tuesday.

The quarterfinals will take place July 19 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia and July 20 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

The Rose Bowl will host one of the semifinals, July 23, with the other taking place, July 22 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The final will take place July 26 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

The assigned groups and full schedule will be announced March 7

The group stage venues include: Red Bull Arena (New Jersey), Nissan Stadium (Nashville), Qualcomm Stadium (San Diego), BBVA Compass Stadium (Houston), Raymond James Stadium (Tampa), Sports Authority Field (Denver), Toyota Stadium (Frisco, Texas), FirstEnergy Stadium (Cleveland) and the Alamodome (San Antonio).

Bruce Arena has options at goalkeeper for World Cup qualifiers

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Damian Calhoun

One of the key positions that the U.S. will need to iron out ahead of the March World Cup qualifiers is in goal.

Tim Howard is recovering from an injury. Brad Guzan is now with Middlesbrough, but not receiving consistent playing time. Nick Rimando had a great showing in the January training camp and friendlies.

“Brad Guzan is a very experienced goalkeeper, and as we saw in the case of Nick Rimando in January camp that experience means a lot,” Arena said on a conference call last week. “Because they’re not getting games on a consistent basis doesn’t mean you can rule him out. I think Brad has shown enough that he’s still a strong candidate to be our number one goalkeeper.

“In the case of Tim Howard, he’s moving along pretty well. I believe he’s 12 weeks out of surgery and the expectation for him was that his full recovery would be between 12 and 16 weeks, so he’s on schedule to hopefully start the first week of the M.L.S. season. Having said that, it could be off a couple weeks and perhaps he won’t be a candidate for March. Right now, he’s still in the picture and that’s a positive as well.”

Bruce Arena turns his attention toward important March qualifiers

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Damian Calhoun

After the January camp and a pair of friendlies, U.S. Men’s National Team Bruce Arena and his coaching staff have their sights set on March and the highly critical World Cup qualifiers against Honduras and Panama.

The U.S. will host Honduras, March 24 at Avaya Stadium in San Jose. The U.S. lost both of their opening qualifiers during the final round of CONCACAF qualifying.

“Now the goal is to merge our players abroad with our domestic players and come up with the best roster for those games against Honduras and Panama,” Arena said during a conference call Thursday. “We’re working right now with a pool of approximately 40 players, give or take a few numbers either way, and we need to break it down to somewhat near 25 for when we report to San Jose.

“We understand how we’re going to play, we have a depth chart and we’re going to sit down and have some conversations to make sure the players understand what they’re going to do before they even get here, make sure they’re bought into that and then finalize the roster.”

U.S. Soccer releases final 23-man roster for upcoming friendlies

Posted on January 27, 2017 by Damian Calhoun

Galaxy forward Gyasi Zardes and goalkeeper Brian Rowe were among the six players released back to their clubs from the U.S. Men’s National Team camp.

Zardes, who had missed the previous two days of training, has a “minor” right knee contusion and will not play in Sunday’s friendly against Serbia in San Diego or Jamaica, Feb. 3.

Taylor Kemp (D.C. United), Keegan Rosenberry (Philadelphia), Will Trapp (Columbus) and Chris Wondolowski (San Jose) were the other players sent back to their clubs, leaving the U.S. roster at 23.

“I have been extremely pleased with the effort and progress we have seen throughout the January Camp,” U.S. coach Bruce Arena said. “The entire pool of players has performed well and has made our roster decisions very difficult. We are excited to take the next step and look forward to the game against Serbia in San Diego.”

Here is the final roster:

U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION:
GOALKEEPERS (3): David Bingham (San Jose Earthquakes), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake), Luis Robles (New York Red Bulls)

DEFENDERS (8): DaMarcus Beasley (Unattached), Steve Birnbaum (D.C. United), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Greg Garza (Atlanta United FC), Chad Marshall (Seattle Sounders FC), Jorge Villafaña (Santos Laguna, MEX), Walker Zimmerman (FC Dallas), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)

MIDFIELDERS (9): Alejandro Bedoya (Philadelphia Union), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Benny Feilhaber (Sporting Kansas City), Jermaine Jones (LA Galaxy), Sacha Kljestan (New York Red Bulls), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy), Dax McCarty (Chicago Fire), Darlington Nagbe (Portland Timbers), Chris Pontius (Philadelphia Union)

FORWARDS (3): Juan Agudelo (New England Revolution), Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders FC)

Anaheim’s Jorge Villafana added to USMNT camp

Posted on January 26, 2017 by Damian Calhoun

Santos Laguna defender Jorge Villafana has been called into the U.S. Men’s National Team camp.

Villafana, 27, played with Portland in MLS and made 26 appearances for Santos Laguna at the start of 2016.

Villafana, originally from Anaheim, is the inaugural winner of Sueno MLS, a reality show that led to a tryout with MLS. He was eventually signed to a professional contract with Chivas USA in 2007.

Villafana, then Jorge Flores, made 86 appearances for Chivas USA and then 52 with Portland before moving to Mexico.

Brian Rowe settling into U.S. National Team camp

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Damian Calhoun

Brian Rowe has come a long way in one season.

He wasn’t the Galaxy starting in goal entering the 2016 MLS season, but took advantage of an opportunity and finished up appearing in 31 of 34 games. He recorded nine clean sheets and made 113 saves.

“It was my first long stretch of games played, but knowing what it takes to be a starter throughout the year and how to prepare yourself week in and week out to be healthy,” Rowe said. “I felt like I met a lot of goals that I set for myself at the beginning of the year and I know there is still a lot of work to be done.”

His performance eventually translated into receiving a call into his first national team camp.

Rowe is one of four keepers in camp with the U.S as they prepare for Sunday’s friendly against Serbia. He is joined by David Bingham (San Jose), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake) and Luis Robles (New York).

“It is a great honor to get called in and to be one the goalies that gets to represent his country in this camp,” Rowe said from national team training recently. “Once camp had started, I was getting ready for the Galaxy season, I was kind of planning my workouts. Then Matt Reis called me to tell me that (Seattle goalkeeper Stefan) Frei had been injured and they were bringing me in.

“First day was a little rusty, jumping right in, but I’ve been slowly getting the wheels going and I feel more comfortable and just have fun with it.”

Bruce Arena, who coached Rowe with the Galaxy knows that the future is certainly bright for Rowe.

“This will be a good experience for Brian,” Arena said. “We had some choices, but we know the player and I think he could come in right away and contribute in training. We’ll see how he progresses in the goalkeeping competition.

“With any inexperienced goalkeeper, the more games you get the better. Two hundred games from now, he’s going to be a heck of a lot better than he is now. Goalies need games. He got better as the season went on.”

Bruce Arena takes a moment to address U.S. U-20 team

Posted on January 20, 2017 by Damian Calhoun

U.S. men’s national team coach Bruce Arena took in a recent U-20 training session at StubHub Center.

The U-20’s are preparing for next month’s CONCACAF U-20 championship Costa Rica, which serves as the region’s qualifying tournament for the World Cup, starting in May.