HARTFORD, Connecticut, Dec 20 (Reuters) - U.S. coach Bruce Arena named a predominantly home-based 30-man squad on Tuesday for a pre-World Cup January training camp.
As European-based players are all in mid-season, all but one player named comes from Major League Soccer clubs which do not begin their season until April.
'We eagerly look forward to seeing our domestic players,' said Arena. 'We want to do the best job we can of making the roster as competitive as possible over the next six months so we can position our team to be successful in the World Cup.'
'We view this camp and the games in January and February as critical towards our preparation for Germany.,'
The announcement comes a day after the U.S. federation came to terms with national team players over a five-year collective bargaining agreement.
Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder Landon Donovan is one of a handful of World Cup veterans called in along with Real Salt Lake defender Eddie Pope, Columbus Crew defender Frankie Hejduk, Colorado Rapids defender Pablo Mastroeni and Kansas City Wizards forward Josh Wolff.
Nineteen of the players named have 10 or fewer caps and six have yet to make an appearance for the senior team, including 16-year-old D.C. United forward Freddy Adu who earned his first call-up.
FC Nordsjaelland defender Heath Pearce, who made his debut in the 1-1 draw against Scotland on November 12, is the only European-based player on the roster since the Danish Super League in on winter break.
The U.S. will play a series of friendlies in California, hosting Canada on Jan. 22 and Norway seven days later, followed by a fixture against Japan on Feb. 10. Final arrangements are being made for a Feb. 19 home game and one on March 1 to be played in Europe.
The camp, at the National Training Centre in Carson, California, begins on Jan. 4 and will run through the squad's February matches.
On March 22, the U.S. will face World Cup hosts Germany in Dortmund before playing three friendlies at home in May as a final warm-up before heading to the finals where they will play in Group E along with Italy, Ghana and the Czech Republic.
Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Kevin Hartman (Los Angeles Galaxy), Matt Reis (New England Revolution), Jonny Walker (Columbus Crew).
Defenders: Chris Albright (Los Angeles Galaxy), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Todd Dunivant (Los Angeles Galaxy), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Ugo Ihemelu (Los Angeles Galaxy), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Heath Pearce (FC Nordsjælland), Eddie Pope (Real Salt Lake).
Midfielders: Freddy Adu (D.C. United), Brian Carroll (D.C. United), Ricardo Clark (Houston), Clint Dempsey (New England Revolution), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Justin Mapp (Chicago Fire), Kyle Martino (Columbus Crew), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids), Pat Noonan (New England Revolution), Ben Olsen (D.C. United), Santino Quaranta (D.C. United), Steve Ralston (New England Revolution).
Forwards: Brian Ching (Houston MLS), Nate Jaqua (Chicago Fire), Eddie Johnson (FC Dallas), Chris Rolfe (Chicago Fire), Taylor Twellman (New England Revolution), Josh Wolff (Kansas City Wizards).
Posted at 08:40 pm by Pioneertoms7
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