United States vs Canada Stadium: Stub Hub Center; Carson; California Kickoff: 10:15pm ET Watch: Fox Sports 1, UniMas, UDN Canada will be another tough test says Klinsmann (from mlssoccer.com) Coming off a comeback victory against Iceland in their first game of 2016, the US national team host northern neighbor Canada to the StubHub Center for the final game of the January training camp. For Canada, it will be their first game action of the year, as both countries gear up for World Cup qualifiers in March. It wasn't a perfect performance, by any means, but the USMNT did well to start 2016 on a high note Sunday, defeating Iceland 3-2 in a friendly. While the defensive performance showed there's plenty to work on, the impressive role D.C. United defender Steve Birnbaumplayed in bringing the Americans back from 2-1 down, with an assist and the winning goal, gave some hope that set pieces and goals from unlikely places could play a big role for the team this year. Kellyn Acosta, Ethan Finlay, Tony Tchani and Jerome Kiesewetter received their first senior call-ups in the game, and expect more new or recent additions to get minutes against Canada. For some, it will be preparation for the U-23 squad's home-and-away playoff series against Colombia's U-23s in March for a berth to this summer's Olympic tournament. For others, it will be an audition to see if they can contribute during the senior team's World Cup qualifiers this year, or for the Copa America Centenario this summer. In 16 matches since then, the Americans have won eight, while another eight have been draws (including the last two, a pair of goalless stalemates). However, during that same time span, Canada has won five Olympic medals in men’s curling, while the USA has only won one. So, y’know, there’s that. Traveling Roster GOALKEEPERS (3): David Bingham (San Jose Earthquakes), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Luis Robles (New York Red Bulls) DEFENDERS (8): Kellyn Acosta (FC Dallas), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), Steve Birnbaum (D.C. United), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders), Eric Miller (Montreal Impact), Tim Parker (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Matt Polster (Chicago Fire), Brandon Vincent (Chicago Fire) MIDFIELDERS (8): Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Mix Diskerud (New York City FC), Jermaine Jones (unattached), Perry Kitchen (unattached), Darlington Nagbe (Portland Timbers), Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution), Tony Tchani (Columbus Crew SC), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew SC) FORWARDS (6): Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC), Ethan Finlay (Columbus Crew SC), Jerome Kiesewetter (VfB Stuttgart), Jordan Morris (unattached), Khiry Shelton (New York City FC), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy)
Roster that I think would be cool (won't happen): JMo ------ Jozy -------- Kiese ---------- Nagbe --- Acosta ------- Trapp Vincent - Parker - Besler - Polster --------- SeanJohn Also @AutoPenalti I'm pretty sure Orozco is no longer with the team.
Doug McIntyre tweeting that we might see Jermaine Jones at CB... prepare yourself for Klinsy's wide-ride!
I honestly don't mind. I'm happy for Birnbaum to hit that game winner, but he did not do that well defensively and I don't really see him being more than a domestic squad callup going forward. I'd rather slot Jermaine back there and gives his CM spot to someone else.
My last stab at it: -----------------------Altidore----------------------- ------Nagbe---------Zardes-------------Finlay--- ----------------Diskerud-------Bradley---------- -----Acosta-----Besler----Jones-----Birnbaum- --------------------Bingham-----------------------
I guess the fields going to be a little wider? I didn't even know teams adjusted that https://www.instagram.com/p/BBbURiEgxn8/
Yep, lots of teams do it. I'm prett sure Orebro in the CL this season narrowed their field against Madrid.
And Portland went intentionally narrower than they needed to for the past couple of seasons, though I expect next season they might want to rethink that.
Lineup: Bingham; Birnbaum, Jones, Besler, Acosta; Zardes, Bradley, Diskerud, Nguyen; Morris, Altidore No idea on the formation, that's how it's listed. Perhaps a 3-5-2 with Acosta further upfield, or a 4-4-2 with Birnbaum at right back and a partnership of Jermaine Jones and Matt Besler.
It's fine I guess. Don't like that backline, but with all the camp exits that's pretty much as best as you're gonna do (though I wouldn't have mined Miller). Despite a poor season, I'm still a Mixx fan and am happy to see him starting, guy tends to play well for us. Zardes
lol Jones at CB. Someone call Besler a taxi back to the airport, he should get out of there before Jones ruins his reputation with terrible positioning causing him to defend the whole center of defense. Acosta at LB is disappointing. He's not a LB. Birnbaum's not a right-back. Why do Besler, Bradley and Jozy need to be in the lineup? Where is Trapp, Kitchen, Parker, Nagbe? Zardes I'm convinced using Mix who's the most average player you will find is Klinsmann's way to make sure Trapp and Kitchen don't get minutes.