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"Hooray" Or "Aw, Crap"? Zusi Off To US Camp With Ten Others

By Joseph Landis
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Well, I didn't really see that coming and I expected to have time to write up a post about players I am not familiar with. Zusi isn't exactly in his finest stretch of the season, but if you look at the omissions of familiar faces (Brek Shea, Benny Feilhaber) or in form non-Klinsmann players(Sacha Klejstan) in the midfield, his inclusion makes sense.

This opens up another can of worms for Sporting Kansas City, who just played a game where they had struggles dictating in the midfield without their energetic focus Roger Espinoza. What happens when they go without their creative center in Zusi. For free kicks, expect a large amount of Bobby Convey, and expect Paulo Nagamura and Peterson Joseph to get some playing time. Don't be too worried though, Zusi appears to be one of the early cuts if you look at the midfield depth chart, so he may only miss one or two matches.

Klinsmann Completes Training Camp Roster with 11 Additional Players - U.S. Soccer
ROSTER ADDITIONS BY POSITION

DEFENDERS (4): Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Oguchi Onyewu (Sporting Lisbon), Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaelland)

MIDFIELDERS (1): Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)

FORWARDS (6): Juan Agudelo (Chivas USA), Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar), Terrence Boyd (Borussia Dortmund), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Herculez Gomez (Santos), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)

As for the rest of this roster, the forward selections deserve a round of applause as those are exactly who are in form and Juan Agudelo, who just got traded from a team who didn't want, need, or use him. His selection is puzzling, but he's been on the radar the entire Klinsmann reign.

As for the defenders, that was perhaps the least hassle he could have found. I would have called in Ream over the older Parkhurst or out of form Cameron, but whatever...looks good from a distance.

(The entire roster and a prediction on a starting 11 after the jump)

In case you missed it the last time, here is the entire roster, which will be trimmed to 23 at some time.

U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION - Detailed Roster

GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)

DEFENDERS (8): Carlos Bocanegra (Rangers), Edgar Castillo (Club Tijuana), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Alfredo Morales (Hertha Berlin) Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Oguchi Onyewu (Sporting Lisbon), Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaelland)

MIDFIELDERS (9): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Chievo Verona), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04), Jose Torres (Pachuca), Danny Williams (Hoffenheim) Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)

FORWARDS (7): Clint Dempsey (Fulham) Juan Agudelo (Chivas USA), Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar), Terrence Boyd (Borussia Dortmund), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Herculez Gomez (Santos), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)

Now a starting 11 for this team..

Howard

Cherundolo Onyewu Bocanegra Johnson

Beckerman Jones

Donovan Dempsey Bradley

Altidore

I included Beckerman only because I believe Klinsmann has a fetish for him. The other ten are the players that need to be on the field in their particular postions save Bradley. He isn't a LM but he is one of our best 11 and should be in Beckerman's role. Johnson may move up to LW from LB, and then Castillo would get playing time but who knows. This team doesn't have many natural left sided players so expect the left to rely heavy on cutting inside and overlaps to attack while keeping their width.

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