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Pre-Game Notebook: Last-Minute U.S.-El Tri Tidbits

A glut of left backs, a logjam at the goalkeeper position, and a Mexican-American who is happy to be playing for Mexico. Get yer last-minute updates right here. 
BY Brooke Tunstall Posted
April 15, 2015
7:45 PM

SAN ANTONIO—Suddenly a weakness has become a position of depth for the United States national team. 

Left back, long one of the team’s bugaboos dating back to the mid-1990s when Steve Sampson and U.S. Soccer rushed David Regis into the national team after pulling strings to expedite his citizenship, has become one with lots of depth according to U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann.

DaMarcus Beasley, a converted midfielder, filled the role for the latter part of World Cup qualifying and in Brazil last summer but he’s pushing 33 and recently announced his retirement from international soccer, leaving a void for Klinsmann to fill. 

Tijuana’s Greg Garza has emerged as a solid option since Klinsmann began experimenting with new players while Orlando City’s Brek Shea has resurrected his national team career by making the move there for both club and country after returning from England.

Shea has played in every U.S. game this year, either as a sub or a starter, and scored two goals pushing into attack. Both are on the roster for tonight’s friendly with Mexico at the Alamodome (8:30pm ET, FoxSports1).

Klinsmann made a point to thank and laud Beasley for his service and “amazing career” before speaking about Garza and Shea’s emergence.

“Greg Garza came out of the background. We followed him for half a year before the World Cup when we had had a scrimmage with Tijuana,” Klinsmann explained. After the World Cup “it was the opportunity for Greg coming in and from the first moments on he was just a fixture on the group and was really impressive.”

Klinsmann recognizes that Shea is a work in progress as he adapts to his new role.

“With the whole move that happened with Brek Shea, he didn’t break through in Europe, didn’t make it there, the thought process was, 'Let’s see him in January camp. Can he play the left back position?' And you know he still has a learning curve in front of him but he’s making a lot of improvement… so suddenly you have two players in that position.”

When the European-based players are included, Shea and Garza will compete with versatile flank players Fabian Johnson of Borussia Mochengladbach and Timothy Chandler of Eintracht Frankfurt, who have both started at left back but might be best used elsewhere.

Klinsmann also said that Atlas’ Edgar Castillo, a member of the Gold Cup team two years ago, remains an option going forward and that he’d have likely been called up for tonight’s game had Atlas not had a Copa Libertadores match tonight against Brazilian side Athletico Mineiro.

"It gives us more options, more variations in our game," Klinsmann said of the versatility. "Also, systemwise, some are better in a 4-4-2 or fit better in a 3-5-2 or depending on the opposition, we tend now to have options.” 

FACING A FAMILIAR…FACE

There will be a familiar face to several of the U.S. players in the Mexican starting lineup tonight. El Tri defender Carlos Salcedo transferred to Chivas de Guadalajara this winter after spending two seasons with Real Salt Lake and a year before that with its academy. 

A native of Mexico, he does not have U.S. citizenship and was years away from getting it when he returned to Guadalajara. The 21-year-old is expected to make his senior national team debut tonight as the left marking back in Mexico’s 3-5-2 formation. 

“I'm really happy for Carlos Salcedo, he's got a good head on his shoulders and he worked really hard for this,” said former Salt Lake teammate Kyle Beckerman, who is on the roster for tonight’s game. “He was just in a tough situation where he had veteran center backs ahead of him with us. But when he got his chances he played very well for us.”

In two seasons in Utah Salcedo played 25 regular season games, starting 20.

BIDING HIS TIME

No spot is harder to break through on the U.S. national team than goalkeeper, where four players have dominated the starts in the modern history of the U.S. national team. Since Tony Meola debuted for the U.S. as a freshman at the University of Virginia in 1988, the Mount Rushmore of U.S. goalkeepers—Kasey Keller, Brad Fridel, Tim Howard and Meola—have combined for 388 caps and played every minute for the U.S. in the World Cup. 

Every other netminder—and there have been 24 of them—during the same time has earned a combine 134 caps. That’s why goalies like Marcus Hahnemann and Juergen Sommer, veterans of the England Premier League who each made a pair of World Cup teams, combined for just 17 caps. 

It’s why iconic MLS goalies like Joe Cannon (2 caps), Kevin Hartman (5), and Zach Thornton (8) could muster only a handful of appearances in a U.S. shirt.

And it’s why D.C. United’s Bill Hamid, the reigning MLS Goalkeeper of the Year, has only two caps since being a regular call-up since Klinsmann took over as national team coach almost four years ago. 

“You just have to be patient, wait for your chance, and be ready when you get it,” Hamid said earlier this week. 

The 24-year-old product of United’s academy admits to watching the performances of the other goalkeepers who play for the U.S. while also focusing on his own performance.

“It’s both,” he said. “You do what you can to get better and make sure you ready but, yeah, I watch how the other goalkeepers in the pool are doing. But we have a lot of good goalkeepers, always have, in this country. So it’s hard to play for the national team.”

Hamid comes to the current national team camp in strong form, posting three shutouts his first five games. In all three shutouts, United grinded out 1-0 wins. 

“Work and heart. We’re a Ben Olsen team,” he said in reference to his coach whose work ethic as a player was well-known for years in MLS and with the national team. “We don’t play the most stylish possession soccer—like a Salt Lake or a Portland. But we work and grind out our results.”

Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. Follow him on Twitter

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