U.S. Men's National Team: August 2008 Archives

U.S. Coach Bob Bradley has just announced a 20-man roster for the pair of upcoming World Cup Qualifying games against Cuba Sept. 6 in Havana and Trinidad & Tobago on Sept. 10 in Chicago.

There are just two changes and two additions to the squad Bradley selected for the recent qualifier in Guatemala.

Former Galaxy defender Danny Califf replaces Watford's Jay DeMerit in the back, while Colorado's Pablo Mastroeni is out and Houston's Ricardo Clark comes in at midfield.

In addition, Marvell Wynne of Toronto FC and Michael Orozco, who plays in Mexico and is the only uncapped player on the roster, come into the senior squad.

The Galaxy's Landon Donovan and Eddie Lewis retain their places, as does Sacha Kljestan of Chivas USA.

"These next two games are very important to help us position ourselves to advance to the final stage," Bradley said. "With the win against Guatemala, we have put ourselves in a good situation at the start of the semifinal round. I was very pleased with the way our team stuck together in a difficult environment. We need to have that same type of effort in the matches against Cuba and Trinidad & Tobago."

But Bradley has once again ignored Dallas striker Kenny Cooper and the Galaxy's Edson Buddle who have 25 goals between them and sit in the No. 2 and No. 3 positions respectively in the MLS scoring race.

Here's the full squad, with World Cup qualifying caps and goals (or in the case of goalkeepers shutouts) listed in parentheses:

Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa: 2/2 SO), Tim Howard (Everton FC: 4/3 SO).

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes: 14/2), Danny Califf (FC Midtjylland: 2/0), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96: 16/0), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew: 12/1), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege: 9/0), Michael Orozco (San Luis: 0/0), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock: 3/0), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC: 0/0).

Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers: 17/4), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen: 3/1), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo: 1/0), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers: 2/0), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA: 1/0), Eddie Lewis (Los Angeles Galaxy: 20/3).

Forwards: Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo: 8/4), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy: 22/8), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC: 9/2), Eddie Johnson (Cardiff City: 8/8)

I'm getting up to watch the 6 a.m. U.S.-Brazil Olympic women's football final.

So briefly:
*The U.S. continued its domination of Guatemala Wednesday with a 1-0 win in the first game of the semifinal round of World Cup qualifying.

Notable:
*Seven yellow cards, two red cards and 40 total fouls kept the referee busy.
*Galaxy target Eddie Lewis needed five stitches to close a head wound sustained in a particularly nasty challenge with Guatemala's Gustavo Cabrera who earned a red card for using his body as a missile.
*Steve Cherundolo's red card means he misses the next U.S. World Cup qualifier in Havana vs. Cuba on Sept. 6.

Quotable:

"It was a very hard fought game, and for us a hard earned three points," said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley. "The win is based more on the determination of our team. Sometimes it's necessary to win games in that way. It was a game where we relied on the effort, team spirit, and the mentality of the group.

U.S. lineup: 1-Tim Howard; 15-Heath Pearce, 5-Oguchi Onyewu, 3-Carlos Bocanegra, 6-Steve Cherundolo; 10-Landon Donovan, 12-Michael Bradley, 4-Pablo Mastroeni (13-Maurice Edu, 78), 7-Eddie Lewis (17-DaMarcus Beasley, 65); 11-Brian Ching, 8-Clint Dempsey (2-Frankie Hejduk, 65)

*Sven Wins For Mexico.

*CONCACAF WCQ Scores.

*Chivas USA discovered what happens when a team missing 10 senior players or so meets one of the best teams in the league: they are hammered 4-0.

How bad was it? Lawndale's Kei Kamara, (and these TV announcers have got to decide whether his surname is pronounced "camera" or "Kamara" and not use both) who was punted from San Jose for his dismal goalscoring record, got two goals. Nate Jaqua, similarly dismissed from the Galaxy for not recognizing a net, got another.

The view from Houston.

The Chivas USA lineup: - Zach Thornton, Carey Talley (Keith Savage 13), Claudio Suarez (Eric Ebert 46), Shavar Thomas, Bobby Burling, Paulo Nagamura (Kraig Chiles 46), Daniel Paladini, Jonathan Bornstein, Francisco Mendoza, Roberto Nurse, Atiba Harris.

Highlights if you dare to watch:

Wonder what Preki thought of Sacha Kljestan sitting on the U.S. bench Wednesday unused?

*The U.S. women will face the flamboyant Brazilians at 6 a.m. on USA in the Olympics women's football final.

From U.S. Soccer:

This will be the fourth meeting between the U.S. and Brazil since the USA's crushing loss in the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup semifinal, a match in which the U.S. scored an own goal and saw Shannon Boxx sent off at the end of the first half ... All three previous matches have been played during the past two months ... The U.S. has won all three of those matches by the score of 1-0, with the first meeting at the 2008 Peace Queen Cup in South Korea on June 17, followed by two Send-Off matches in Commerce City, Colo., on July 13 and San Diego, Calif., on July 16 ... All three of those wins were against an under-strength Brazilian team that was missing their top European-based players including 2007 FIFA Women's World Player of the Year Marta, who was in Sweden playing for her club team Umea

The importance of USC's Amy Rodriguez to the team is explained here.

Apologies for the late blogging since I am somewhat under the weather today (and, no, that's not because of all the soccer on TV).

Still, there is a lot.

First up at noon on Fox Soccer Channel is David Beckham and England taking on the Czech Republic in London.

Then at 7 p.m. on ESPN2, the U.S. plays Guatemala in World Cup qualifying.

U.S. Soccer observes there are plenty of MLS-Guatemala connections:

Carlos Ruiz and Landon Donovan share the same locker room at the Los Angeles Galaxy, while midfielder Guillermo 'Pando' Ramirez also used to ply his trade at The Home Depot Center. Marco 'Loco' Rodriguez and Fredy Garcia once wore the same uniform as Frankie Hejduk in Columbus. Gustavo Cabrera left Real Salt Lake for AGF Aarhus in Denmark, the club that just signed U.S. Olympic Team midfielder Benny Feilhaber. Finally, 20-year old uncapped midfielder Marco Pappa recently moved to the Chicago Fire, where he has assumed a starting role as a wide midfielder.

The Galaxy's Landon Donovan will equal Kasey Keller's U.S. caps total in today's game. Here's the top 10 players in appearances for the U.S:

Name Caps Goals (SO) Era
1. Cobi Jones 164 15 1992-2004
2. Jeff Agoos 134 4 1988-2003
3. Marcelo Balboa 128 13 1988-2000
4. Claudio Reyna 112 8 1994-2006
5. Paul Caligiuri 110 5 1984-1998
6. Eric Wynalda 106 34 1990-2000
7. Kasey Keller 102 (47) 1990-
8. Landon Donovan 101 36 2000-
9. Earnie Stewart 101 17 1990-2004
10. Tony Meola 100 (32) 1988-2006

There's plenty of other CONCACAF action today, too.

Finally, a crocked Chivas USA (6-8-5) will try to snap a four-game winless streak against a healthy Western Conference-leading Houston Dynamo (7-4-8). in a game that conveniently (for those watching the U.S. game) starts at 8 p.m. on FSN (tape delayed). It's also live at 6 p.m. on KAZA.

A bright spot for Chivas USA: Due to World Cup qualifiers, Houston is without its two leading scorers, Brian Ching (U.S. National Team) and Dwayne De Rosario (Canadian National Team).

Now excuse me, I'm going back to bed.

The Galaxy's Landon Donovan will lead the U.S. against Guatemala.

Photo by Scott Varley.

Galaxy hotshot Edson Buddle - 12 goals in 15 starts this season - was overlooked yet again by U.S. Men's National Team Coach Bob Bradley today when he announced the squad for Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against Guatemala in Central America.

Instead, Bradley persists in naming striker Eddie Johnson to his squads.

Also dropped from the squad for the game were 12 players named to the Barbados roster including Rolling Hills Estates' John Thorrington, Freddy Adu and DaMarcus Beasley.

Here's the 17-man squad (with one player to be added later) with caps and goals (or in the case of goalkeepers shutouts) in parentheses:

goalkeepers Brad Guzan (Aston Villa: 2/2), Tim Howard (Everton FC: 3/2); defenders Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes: 13/1), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96: 15/0), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC: 1/0), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew: 11/1), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege: 8/0), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock: 2/0); Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen: 2/1), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC: 1/0), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA: 1/0), Eddie Lewis (Derby County: 19/3), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids: 10/0); Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo: 7/4), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy: 21/8), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC: 8/2), Eddie Johnson (Fulham FC: 8/8).

On paper (or should that be computer screen?), the U.S. should have little trouble disposing of Guatemala, according to U.S. Soccer:

The U.S. is 10-4-5 lifetime against Guatemala and is currently riding a six-match shutout streak against the Chapines. The teams have met eight times overall in World Cup qualifying play, with the U.S. holding an unbeaten 4-0-4 mark in the series.

Notable: Donovan, who became the fourth youngest male player in history to reach 100 caps when he went 90 minutes on June 8 against Argentina, leads the roster with 21 all-time World Cup qualifying appearances. His eight career goals in World Cup qualifying are also a team best, tied with Johnson.

Quotable:

"We are excited to begin the next phase of qualifying," Bradley said. "There are no easy games, and we know that Guatemala is a very difficult team to play against at home. It's important that we start off the semifinal round in a positive way, and we are confident the work from the last 18 months has prepared us for the task."

Updated: Galaxy striker Carlos Ruiz, Guatemala's all-time leading scorer with 39 goals in 75 games, was also called up by his country for the game.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Women's Olympic Team plays its quarterfinal against UCLA's Kara Lang and the rest of the Canadian team at 3 a.m. Friday live on USA.

The U.S. and Canada have met four times this year alone, with two comfortable U.S. wins and two closer affairs.

Notable: Torrance's Shannon Boxx will reach a career milestone against Canada. Boxx, who made her international debut in 2003 at the relatively advanced age (for a soccer player) of 26 will become the 22nd player in U.S. history to play 100 or more times for her country.

Quotable:

"We have played them a couple of times and they have all been different games, but certainly some close games," said U.S. Coach Pia Sundhage. "A good part is that they have not scored that many goals against us and secondly the more minutes we have together with this team, the better it is. If you compare the first half of the first game against Norway to the last half against New Zealand, we have improved our a game a lot, so we are really looking forward to the game."