In the wake of three players dropping out of the US national team roster originally called up to face Ukraine this week, USMNT head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has added Birmingham City defender Jonathan Spector, US Soccer announced on Sunday evening.
The USMNT will take on Ukraine in Larnaca, Cyprus, on Wednesday at 2 pm ET. The match will be broadcast on ESPN2, WatchESPN, and UniMas.
On Saturday, US Soccer announced that three players – Toronto FC midfielder Michael Bradley, Rosenborg playmaker Mix Diskerud, and Bolton Wanderers defender Tim Ream -, would not join the squad for the match, which was orginally schedueld to be played in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. The match was moved to Cyprus last week due to the ongoing unrest in Ukraine.
Spector, 28, has earned 34 caps for the US since debuting in 2004, but has not made an appearance since coming on as a second-half substitute in the February 2012 win over Italy in Genoa.
He will be expected to provide experienced cover for both the backline and the midfield. This season with Birmingham City, the native of Arlington Heights, Ill., has made 12 appearances across all competitions. He started and went 90 minutes in Saturday's loss to Ipswich Town.
The USMNT will convene and train in Frankfurt, Germany, on Monday before leaving for Cyprus on Tuesday.
MLSsoccer.com will have complete coverage of the match from Cyprus.
USMNT ROSTER BY POSITION
GOALKEEPERS: Cody Cropper (Southampton), Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton)
DEFENDERS: John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Edgar Castillo (Club Tijuana), Alfredo Morales (Ingolstadt), Oguchi Onyewu (Sheffield Wednesday), Will Packwood (Birmingham City), Jonathan Spector (Birmingham City)
MIDFIELDERS: Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Jermaine Jones (Besiktas), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht), Brek Shea (Barnsley), Danny Williams (Reading)
FORWARDS: Juan Agudelo (Utrecht), Jozy Altidore (Sunderland), Terrence Boyd (Rapid Vienna), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Julian Green (Bayern Munich), Aron Johannsson (AZ Alkmaar)
