Goalkeepers (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake). Defenders (8): DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Timmy Chandler (Nürnberg), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Fabian Johnson (Borussia Mönchengladbach), DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle Sounders FC). Midfielders (8): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Mix Diskerud (Rosenborg), Julian Green (Bayern Munich), Jermaine Jones (Besiktas), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City). Forwards (4): Jozy Altidore (Sunderland), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Aron Johannsson (AZ Alkmaar), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)
Big news is the exclusion of Landon Donovan, who immediately went and broke the MLS scoring record with a brace. It seems an odd one when when you look at the likes of Green who plays in Germany's fourth division and Davis who while a stand-out in MLS doesn't have the experience or talismanic aura of Donovan. Klinsmann has picked roughly half US and Mexican-based and half Europe-based, though the starting central defenders, midfielder, and strikers could all be MLS players.
They had a 2-0 win over Azerbaijan in San Francisco today though it sounds like it was a pretty stodgy game. The goals came in the 75th and 81st minutes. They apparently lined up in a 4-4-2 diamond, as they did in their last game: Howard in goal, Johnson, Cameron, Besler, and Beasely at the back, Jones anchoring with Zusi and Bedoya on the flanks and Bradley at the tip, Wondolowski and Altidore up front.
I watched their friendly with Ukraine back in March and it was pretty dire, especially compared to their success in the final qualifying stage. Klinsmann has often selected squads with mostly MLS and Mexican league players and it might be tough for some of the European-based players to fit into things, in fact the lack of familiarity appeared to be a real problem in the Ukraine game. I can't see them getting out of the group, Germany and Portugal will have too much class, though they should keep the games close.
