The United States will have their hands full when they face Denmark and Slovakia a couple weeks from now. Both teams finished top of their respective UEFA World Cup qualifying goups and have the added benefit of playing on home soil. That coupled with the US missing key players through injury or the MLS playoffs and you get a couple good games against physical teams who can and will take advantage of opportunities.
Here is the Denmark roster:
GK: Thomas Sorensen (Stoke City), Stephen Andersen (Brondby)
DF: Daniel Agger (Liverpool), Lars Jacobsen (Blackburn), Michael Lumb (AGF Aarhus), Per Kroldrup (Fiorentina), Simon Kjaer (Palermo), William Kvist (Copenhagen)
MF: Christian Poulsen (Juventus), Jakob Poulson (AGF Aarhus), Michael Silberbauer (FC Utrecht), Soren Rieks (Esbjerg), Thomas Enevoldsen (FC Groningen), Thomas Kahlenberg (Wolfsburg)
FW: Dennis Rommedahl (Ajax), Jesper Gronkjaer (Copenhagen), Johan Absalonsen (Odense BK), Jon Dahl Tomasson (Feyenoord), Martin Jorgensen (Fiorentina), Morten Rasmussen (Brondby), Soren Larsen (Duisburg)
Here is the Slovakia roster:
GK: Jan Mucha (Legia Warszawa), Dusan Kuciak (Vaslui), Lubos Kamenar (Nantes)
DF: Radoslav Zabavnik (Terek Grozny), Marek Cech (West Bromwich Albion), Martin Petras (Cesena), Martin Skrtel (Liverpool), Jan Durica (Lokomotiv Moscow), Peter Pekarik (Wolfsburg), Kornel Salata (Slovan Bratislava)
MF: Miroslav Karhan (Mainz 05), Marek Hamsik (Napoli), Marek Sapara (Rosenborg), Jan Kozak (Slovan Bratislava), Zdeno Strba (Skoda Xanthi), Dusan Svento (Red Bull Salzburg), Miroslav Stoch (FC Twente), Kamil Kopunek (Spartak Trnava), Vladimir Weiss (Manchester City), Jaraj Kucka (Sparta Praha)
FW: Robert Vittek (Lille), Stanislav Sestak (VfL Bochum), Erik Jendrisek (Kaiserslautern)
As you can see, plenty of talent to worry about. Here are my best guesses at who Bob Bradley will bring, I'll name 23 for good measure:
GK: Tim Howard (Everton FC), Brad Guzan (Aston Villa FC), Troy Perkins (Valerenga IF)
DF: Carlos Bocanegra (Stade Rennais), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United), Danny Califf (FC Midtjylland), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Michael Parkhurst (FC Nordsjaelland), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Edgar Castillo (Tigres UANL), Jonathan Bornstein (CD Chivas USA)
MF: Michael Bradley (Borussia Monchengladbach), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus), Jeremiah White (AGF Aarhus), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Jose Francisco Torres (Pachuca), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Freddy Adu (Belenenses), Alejandro Bedoya (Orebro SK)
FW: Jozy Altidore (Hull City FC), Eddie Johnson (Fulham FC), Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids), Kenny Cooper (1860 Munich)
Mainly our European contingent with the MLS playoffs in full swing and perhaps Bob will give them a break following long regular/post seasons + WC Qualifying. Along with Bornstein, Casey and Donovan (the only three necessary MLS players we need for friendlies) players who could get the call if their teams fail to make it to the MLS playoffs are:
Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy)
Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew)
Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)
Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo)
Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo)
Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo)
Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake)
Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake)
Sacha Kljestan (CD Chivas USA)
Other MLS players who could get a call:
Jeff Cunningham (FC Dallas)
Heath Pearce (FC Dallas)
Cory Gibbs (Colorado Rapids)
Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards)
Other abroad players who could get a call:
Mikkel Diskerud (Stabaek)
Bryan Arguez (Hertha Berlin)
Dominic Cervi (Glasgow Celtic)
DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers)
Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers)
Michael Orozco (San Luis)
Luis Robles (Kaiserslautern)
Frank Simek (Sheffield Wednesday)
Marcus Tracy (Aalborg BK)
David Yelldell (TuS Koblenz)
Of course we're expecting the actual roster by Friday...stay tuned.
UPDATE:
The game against Slovakia will be shown on Fox Soccer Channel at 10am EST and the Denmark game will be shown on ESPN2 at 2:30pm EST. Awesome how we can get this done in Europe but not in Central America...hmmmm.
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