Jurgen Klinsmann announces U.S. men's national team's Gold Cup squad
The 23 players who will represent the U.S. men's national team at the Gold Cup were revealed by manager Jurgen Klinsmann on Tuesday.
Comprised of 17 players who featured at last year's World Cup and 12 players from Major League Soccer, the squad is loaded with experience and doesn't feature any significant surprises. Nonetheless, some supporters will surely point out the absences of DaMarcus Beasley, Matt Besler, Sam Garza, Jordan Morris, Michael Orozco, and Brek Shea.
It's also worth noting that Clint Dempsey will participate at the Gold Cup after being assigned a three-game suspension for ripping up a referee's notebook during the Seattle Sounders' 3-1 defeat to the Portland Timbers in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
Klinsmann said he will sit down with Dempsey and discuss “in a relaxed way” the red card he received last week. #usmnt
— Doug McIntyre (@DougMacESPN) June 23, 2015
"Our approach for putting together the roster for this summer's Gold Cup, which is very, very important to us, is obviously to do everything possible to win this competition," Klinsmann said. "Winning it would qualify us for the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia, so putting the pieces together is very crucial.
"That's why we came out with a roster full of quality, but also a lot of experience; players that are used to playing in the CONCACAF region and also younger players that came through the ranks over the last year that made a stamp on the senior National Team program.
"It's an exciting roster, and obviously we have a chance to make some changes after the group stage if necessary. We put all of these things into consideration, and we believe we have a very, very strong group that can win this prestigious tournament."
Klinsmann's squad will play a friendly against Guatemala on July 3 before kicking off its title defense four days later at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas. The USMNT will compete in Group A against the likes of Panama, Haiti, and Honduras.
Here are the 23 players selected by Klinsmann:
Goalkeepers
Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake), Willian Yarbrough (Club Leon)
Defenders
Ventura Alvarado (Club America), John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Timmy Chandler (Eintracht Frankfurt), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Fabian Johnson (Borussia Monchengladbach), Tim Ream (Bolton Wanderers)
Midfielders
Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Mix Diskerud (New York City FC), Alfredo Morales (Ingolstadt), DeAndre Yedlin (Tottenham Hotspur), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)
Forwards
Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders), Aron Johannsson (AZ Alkmaar), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)