USMNT: 23 For Brazil (January 2014)
Below are two 23-man United States Men’s National Team rosters for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Neither are predictions of which players Jürgen Klinsmann will select because it’s hard to guess how he might change his thinking about some of his players’ strengths and weaknesses given the United States’ World Cup draw into Group G with Germany, Portugal, and Ghana.
Klinsmann is a tough coach to read because some of his signature victories have come when certain players were injured or unavailable, and he won’t be able to call his players that are playing their club soccer in Europe or Mexico into the January camp.
Therefore, reading a coach’s mind is a fool’s errand, and below are this writer’s roster preferences along with this writer’s estimation of something closer to a more popular 23-man roster.
Neither group is right or wrong, but they are merely one person’s opinion along with the same person’s approximation of something that perhaps a bigger percentage of American soccer fans and observers are comfortable with.
World Soccer Source’s picks are an attempt to support the players that World Soccer Source believes are the most talented, the most athletic, and the most effective players against World Cup competition such as Germany, Portugal, and Ghana.
Below are the two rosters:
World Soccer Source’s Preferred 23-Man USMNT World Cup Roster
GOALKEEPERS: Tim HOWARD, Brad GUZAN, Luis ROBLES
DEFENDERS: Geoff CAMERON, John Anthony BROOKS, Shane O’NEILL, Andrew FARRELL, Chris KLUTE, DeAndre YEDLIN, Eric LICHAJ
MIDFIELDERS: Michael BRADLEY, Jermaine JONES, Clint DEMPSEY, Landon DONOVAN, Benny FEILHABER, Mix DISKERUD, Joe CORONA, Benji JOYA, Amobi OKUGO
FORWARDS: Jozy ALTIDORE, Aron JÓHANNSSON, Juan AGUDELO, Terrence BOYD
Notes:
-This roster contains new MLS defenders such as Chris Klute, Andrew Farrell, DeAndre Yedlin, and Shane O’Neill, along with the 20-year-old Bundesliga defender, John Anthony Brooks.
-This roster contains playmakers like Benny Feilhaber, Mix Diskerud, and Joe Corona because this writer believes the United States needs them on the roster to field a balanced line-up that can pass the ball well and produce attacking soccer.
-This roster contains the 20-year-old midfielder Benji Joya who is an internationally-inexperienced midfielder that can play as a box-to-box midfielder or as an attacking midfielder out right, out left, or in the center as a central attacking midfielder. Joya’s skill-set and style of play can be a great asset to the United States.
-This roster includes Juan Agudelo and Terrence Boyd as strikers along with Jozy Altidore and Aron Jóhannsson. For this writer, Agudelo and Boyd are too good, too athletic, and too physically-imposing to leave off.
A More Mainstream 23-Man USA World Cup Roster
GOALKEEPERS: Tim HOWARD, Brad GUZAN, Nick RIMANDO
DEFENDERS: Matt BESLER, Omar GONZALEZ, John Anthony BROOKS, Geoff CAMERON, Fabian JOHNSON, Eric LICHAJ, Chris KLUTE, DeAndre YEDLIN
MIDFIELDERS: Michael BRADLEY, Clint DEMPSEY, Landon DONOVAN, Jermaine JONES, Mix DISKERUD, Graham ZUSI, Benny FEILHABER, Joe CORONA
FORWARDS: Jozy ALTIDORE, Aron JÓHANNSSON, Juan AGUDELO, Terrence BOYD
Notes:
-This roster contains Matt Besler and Omar Gonzalez who have both been widely and rightly praised for their play for the United States in 2013. Both center backs are fairly complete center backs that may or may not be able to play at the same level against better competition. The World Soccer Source selections are younger and more inexperienced center backs that World Soccer Source believes have the tools to perform better at the World Cup.
-This roster includes Graham Zusi who has received almost unanimous praise for his play in MLS, and most observers consider him to be a valuable asset for the United States. World Soccer Source finds Zusi to be a two-footed and fundamentally-sound attacking midfielder whose technical-ability isn’t quite as quick, smooth, creative, and dynamic as players like Benny Feilhaber, Joe Corona, Mix Diskerud, and Benji Joya.
-This roster includes Fabian Johnson whose skill is evidenced by the fact that he is a Bundesliga players. Johnson is an excellent winger that can also play fairly well as an outside back. For this writer, Johnson isn’t as strong of a defender as Klute, Farrell, Yedlin, and Lichaj, but the counter argument for this is that Johnson has lots of experience playing as an outside back in the Bundesliga.