U.S. Men's National Team
Zardes, Akindele, Surprise Picks on U.S. Camp Roster
Alex Bono? Jon Kempin? Christian Dean? Julio Morales? Jurgen Klinsmann proved to be full of surprises with his latest U.S. national team roster, favoring lesser-know athletes over some big-name stars.
BY
John Godfrey
Posted
January 09, 2015
1:56 PM
HERE'S THE ROSTER. What do you think?
GOALKEEPERS
Alex Bono (unattached), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Jon Kempin (Sporting Kansas City), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS
Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), Steve Birnbaum (D.C. United), Christian Dean (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Jermaine Jones (New England Revolution), Perry Kitchen (D.C. United), Shane O’Neill (Colorado Rapids), Oscar Sorto (LA Galaxy)
MIDFIELDERS
Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Mix Diskerud (out of contract), Dennis Flores (Club Leon), Luis Gil (Real Salt Lake), Miguel Ibarra (Minnesota United FC), Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution), Marc Pelosi (Liverpool), Dillon Serna (Colorado Rapids), Brek Shea (Orlando City SC), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew SC)
FORWARDS
Tesho Akindele (FC Dallas), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Julio Morales (Tepic), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes), Bobby Wood (1860 Munich), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy)
Surprised to see Dennis Flores and Christian Dean and Julio Morales on this list? Were you predicting an Alex Bono call-up?
In terms of those left out, where is established veteran Graham Zusi? And breakout defender Matt Hedges? And Kelyn Rowe?
By our count, there are five 30something players on this roster—is that too many for a January camp three years out from the next World Cup?
There's lots to chew on, and we will have plenty of analysis and coverage of this camp in the hours, days, and weeks to come. Opinions please—the Comments section is open for business.