U.S. men’s national team head coach Bob Bradley has included Schalke 04 midfielder Jermaine Jones, Aston Villa defender Eric Lichaj and FC Dallas winger Brek Shea in his 20 man squad for the upcoming friendlies against Poland (Oct. 9th in Chicago) and Colombia (Oct. 12 in Chester, Pa.).
With the fixture dates falling during the MLS playoff race, Bradley has decided to with a largely European-based roster so as not to impact the MLS playoffs. That is why Landon Donovan for example is not in the squad.
“This is a fantastic opportunity to gather many of our players based in Europe and continue to build on the foundation we established during the last four years,” said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley. “We believe we have a strong nucleus of talented players, many of whom we are going to challenge to assume greater leadership roles during the next four-year cycle. We certainly have ideas on how we want to move forward, and these games will be the start of that process.”
U.S. Squad
GOALKEEPERS (2):
Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton).
DEFENDERS (8):
Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Étienne), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Eric Lichaj (Aston Villa), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan), Michael Parkhurst (FC Nordsjaelland), Heath Pearce (FC Dallas), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United).
MIDFIELDERS (7):
Alejandro Bedoya (Örebro), Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Stuart Holden (Bolton Wanderers), Jermaine Jones (FC Schalke), Brek Shea (FC Dallas).
FORWARDS (3):
Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Eddie Johnson (Fulham).
The concern I have is with the 3 U.S. forwards, two of which are bench players. Where will the U.S. goals come from, especially with Donovan not playing?