U.S. Men's National Team head coach Bob Bradley has named a 33-man player pool - including the Eddie Gaven, Frankie Hejduk and Robbie Rogers of the Crew - that will be used to select rosters for the upcoming trio of blockbuster friendlies against England, Spain and Argentina. The roster for the England match, which will include approximately 22 players, will be announced early next week.
All three of the USA's World Cup qualifying tune-up matches will be broadcast on the ESPN and Univision networks, and fans can follow each game live on ussoccer.com's MatchTracker.
"With the challenging schedule of friendlies we have organized to prepare for World Cup qualifying, this is an excellent opportunity to continue to evaluate our player pool and at the same time balance the workload," said Bradley, who is presiding over a five-match unbeaten run for the United States. "Many of our players have just completed seasons in Europe, and the MLS schedule is in full swing, so it is important that we manage the time wisely to give ourselves the best chance to be successful in the important matches this summer."
The friendly schedule kicks off with a trip to famed Wembley Stadium for a May 28 clash with England that will be broadcast live on ESPN Classic at 3 p.m. ET and tape delay on Galavision at 7 p.m. ET/PT. More than 1,300 tickets were sold in the U.S. Supporters Section for the USA's second-ever trip to London. The U.S. will then face fourth-ranked Spain on June 4 at the Estadio El Sardinero in Santander. The match will be shown live exclusively on espn360.com, and broadcast via tape delay on ESPN2 at 5:30 p.m. ET and Galavision at 7 p.m. ET/PT. The U.S. will head back across the Atlantic to face No. 1-ranked Argentina on June 8 at 7:30 p.m. ET in New Jersey. More than 46,000 tickets (buy tickets) have been sold for the USA's final match at Giants Stadium, which will be Presented by Visa®. The USA's final match before the start of the World Cup qualifying campaign will be broadcast live on ESPN Classic and Galavision.
The U.S. is currently riding a five-match unbeaten run that includes back-to-back victories on European soil for the first time in team history. Prior to the USA's first qualifying match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup cycle, the U.S. will have played in two major international tournaments, defended their Gold Cup title, qualified for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, and competed against four teams who were ranked in the top 10 in the world when they faced the United States (Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Spain).
The U.S. opens qualifying play for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in a Second Round series with Barbados that begins Sunday, June 15 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. (tickets). Kickoff for the first leg series is set for 2 p.m. PT, and the match will be broadcast live on ESPN2 and Galavision. The second leg will be played on June 22, with details still to be finalized.
U.S. Soccer has launched a new video campaign that peeks into the Men's National Team's preparation for qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Click here to view the initial segments and return weekly for the latest updates.
U.S. Men's National Team Player Pool
May 22-June 9, 2008
(A detailed roster is available at ussoccer.com)
GOALKEEPERS (5): Dominic Cervi (Out of Contract), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Tim Howard (Everton FC), Troy Perkins (Valerenga IF), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS (9): Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham FC), Dan Califf (FC Midtjylland), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)
MIDFIELDERS (10): Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Eddie Lewis (Derby County), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids)
FORWARDS (9): Jozy Altidore (New York Red Bulls), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Nate Jaqua (Out of Contract), Eddie Johnson (Fulham FC), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), Josh Wolff (1860 Munich)
