Thursday, August 4, 2011

Jurgen's First Staff Named

From the ussoccer.com USMNT Blog:

Martin Vasquez - Vasquez re-unites with Klinsmann after serving as an assistant coach at Bayern Munich. Currently he is the head coach and Director of Soccer Operations for the U.S. Soccer Development Academy U-16 and U-18 teams of the Real Salt Lake AZ Academy. One of only two players to represent both the United States and Mexico at the international level, he was the head coach of Chivas USA in 2010.

Thomas Dooley - A former U.S. captain and National Soccer Hall of Fame member who played in two World Cups and competed against Klinsmann in the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, the German-American had a long professional career that included a Bundesliga and German Cup title with Kaiserslautern and a UEFA Cup title with Schalke 04. A member of the MLS Best XI as part of the Columbus Crew in 1997 and 1998, he went on to coach FC Saarbrucken in Germany before returning to the United States where he was part of the coaching staff for Pateadores that just captured the 2011 Development Academy U-17/18 championship.

Tab Ramos - Born in Uruguay, the legendary midfielder for the U.S. National Team played in three World Cups en route to earning 81 caps for the United States. Known for his flair and creativity on the ball, the Hall of Famer played professionally in Spain and Mexico before becoming the first ever signing for Major League Soccer, where he spent six seasons with the MetroStars in New York. Ramos founded NJSA 04, a club which is a member of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy.

Mike Curry - A goalkeeper coach with more than 37 years experience, Curry has trained goalkeepers at the club, state and college levels since 1974. A member of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Goalkeeper Institute staff, he teaches courses at the regional and national levels and spent eight years with U.S. Soccer Development Academy club FC DELCO. Prior to his coaching career, he played collegiately at then Division II powerhouse University of Baltimore.

Mark Verstegen - One of the foremost leaders and innovators in athletic training, Mark Verstegen is owner and president of Athletes' Performance, which provides athletes with cutting-edge training based on the latest sports science. Vestergen handled the fitness preparations for the German National Team prior to the 2006 FIFA World Cup in which Klinsmann led the team to a third-place finish. Named the Director of Performance for the NFLPA in 2002, he is the author of Core Performance, which reached the top 25 on Amazon within six weeks of its release and has sold more than 100,000 copies.

Jurgen Names Fresh Squad for Mexico Friendly


Jurgen Klinsmann's announcement as the new head coach of the United States Men's National Team was sure to bring with it a change in philosophy and perhaps a phasing in on a new crop of performers for the squad.  We learned, not to much, but a little bit about what perhaps to expect from future rosters.  Maybe.  Or so we'd like to think.  Here is the 22 man roster named for Jurgen Klinsmann's first ever camp:

U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION -
GOALKEEPERS (2): Bill Hamid (D.C.United), Tim Howard (Everton)
DEFENDERS (8): Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Etienne), Edgar Castillo (Club America), Timmy Chandler (FC Nürnberg), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Michael Orozco Fiscal (San Luis), Heath Pearce (Chivas USA), Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Ricardo Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04), Brek Shea (FC Dallas), José Torres (Pachuca)
FORWARDS (5): Freddy Adu (Benfica), Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla), Edson Buddle (FC Ingolstadt), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)

At first glance, a couple things are certain: Klinsmann values the Primera Division in Mexico more highly than Bob Bradley, with four US players being called in from the league in DaMarcus Beasley, Edgar Castillo, Jose Francisco Torres, and Michael Orozco Fiscal.  And it doesn't appear to phase Klinsmann that Edson Buddle and Ricardo Clark aren't playing in a top flight, being called in from FC Ingolstadt and Eintracht Frankfurt respectively.  This is the first time those two have been apart of the US squad since the World Cup, throw in Beasley and Torres into that mix as well.  Orozco hasn't seen a US camp since 2008 for the camp against Cuba and Trinidad & Tobago.

Brek Shea is tearing through MLS/CONCACAF right now has earned this call up.  Hopefully he performs better than in his previous outings vs. Colombia in 2010 and Chile in 2011. 

Timothy Chandler puts to bed the rumors of him considering a change to the German national team and looks sure to start at right back with the aging Steve Cherundolo looking at bringing the youthful Nurnberger along to full time right back for the nats. 

Most surprising picks in the bunch include the aforementioned Castillo, Beasley, Orozco Fiscal, Clark, along with the inclusions of Real Salt Lake's Kyle Beckerman and DC United's young goalkeeper Bill Hamid. 

Freddy Adu returns to the US side in the hopes of continuing to revitalize his soccer career, since it looks like he's still not in Benfica plans.  A good run of form is just what Adu needs to secure a transfer away from the Portuguese powerhouse. 

The abundance of CMs and wide players are leading most to speculate that we'll see a 4-3-3 formation.  While I don't necessarily disagree with this prediction, Klinsmann has always been a strict 4-1-3-2 guy, with a single deep lying CDM who keys on distribution and an advanced CM who's more attack minded.  But the roster does lend itself to a more perhaps diamond central midfield set up, with wingbacks and wingers providing the width. 

Surprise absences?  Ohhhh, let's see, we can chalk up Jozy Altidore, Ogychi Onyewu, Jonathan Spector, and Herculez Gomez as the crew who've just joined new clubs and need time to integrate (Altidore with AZ Alkmaar in Holland, Onyewu with Sporting in Portugal, Spector with Birmingham City in England, and Gomez with Estudiantes in Mexico).  These are all fine for me.  Eric Lichaj reportedly picked up a knock during a preseason match in Aston Villa's trip to China so he was ruled out.  Brad Guzan is trying to lock down the Villa goalkeeping job so he was ruled out. Clint Dempsey just today played his first match back with Fulham in their Europa League win and it's likely just that Dempsey needs to remain with his club in England instead of flying over for a few days, guy has deserved a rest and we'll see him in September for the Belgium match I'm sure.  Alejandro Bedoya is an interesting exclusion, but his club was reluctant to see him leave for the Gold Cup and there's no sense in Klinsmann fighting with a club over their most important player for a single friendly.  Sacha Kljestan is a marginal exclusion at best, and another we likely see against Belgium.  Stuart Holden just returned to light training for Bolton so no need to bring him in.  Mikkel Diskerud and Joshua Gatt are also surprise exclusions since both have been playing well for their clubs in Norway, however, these are two more guys that we likely see make the trip to Belgium so I won't complain much.  Chris Rolfe and Michael Parkhurst are two other Scandinavian players who are missing out on this camp, despite playing well for their respective clubs (Aalborg and Nordsjaelland).

Potential starting 11s?  I'll throw two out since there seems to be some disparity over if we'll see the 4-3-3 or the 4-1-3-2.  First the 4-3-3:



4-1-3-2


These are my two guesses, and to be honest I'd be fine with either.  I will caution that Donovan, Adu, and Beasley have all been named forwards in this roster, and not as midfielders as they've often been previously listed.  We'll see what Klinsmann has up his sleeve however.  Six days until the match.