Bradley selects three overseas debutants
Reuters - Wednesday 16 March 2011, 23:10
MIAMI - United States coach Bob Bradley
has called up three uncapped foreign-based players into his
squad of 24 players for friendly games this month against
Argentina and Paraguay.
Norwich City defender Zak Whitbread, born in Texas but
raised in Runcorn in North West England, has featured for the
United States at Under-20 level but this is his first senior
call-up.
Stuttgart-born goalkeeper David Yelldell plays in the
German second division for Duisburg while Frankfurt native
Timothy Chandler plays as a wing-back with Bundesliga club
Nuremberg. Neither have represented the U.S. at any level.
The squad features just four players from North America's
Major League Soccer - New York Red Bulls pair Tim Ream and Juan
Agudelo, Vancouver Whitecaps centre-half Jay DeMerit and Los
Angeles Galaxy midfielder Landon Donovan.
The squad will begin training in North Carolina on March 20
before taking on Argentina on March 26 at the New Meadowlands
stadium in New Jersey and then facing Paraguay at LP Field in
Nashville, Tennessee.
Bradley's squad includes 16 members of the 2010 World Cup
squad which reached the second round in South Africa before
being eliminated by Ghana.
The U.S. will compete in the CONCACAF Gold Cup in June
where they have been drawn in a group with Canada, Panama and
Guadeloupe.
"This is an important opportunity to get our core group
together along with some relatively newer faces as we consider
the roster decisions for the Gold Cup this summer," said
Bradley.
"We have not had these players together for quite some
time, so this is a great chance to get in a solid week of
training and then face two quality opponents in Argentina and
Paraguay."
Goalkeepers: Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton Wanderers),
Tim Howard (Everton), David Yelldell (MSV Duisburg)
Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Saint Etienne), Jonathan
Bornstein (UANL Tigres), Timothy Chandler (Nürnberg), Steve
Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Vancouver Whitecaps),
Oguchi Onyewu (Twente Enschede), Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls),
Jonathan Spector (West Ham United), Zak Whitbread (Norwich
City)
Midfielders: Michael Bradley (Aston Villa), Clint Dempsey
(Fulham), Mikkel Diskeruud (Stabaek), Landon Donovan (Los
Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers), Benny Feilhaber
(Aarhus), Stuart Holden (Bolton Wanderers), Jermaine Jones
(Blackburn Rovers), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht)
Forwards: Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Jozy Altidore
(Bursaspor), Edson Buddle (Ingolstadt)