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Arena picks U.S. roster for Poland exhibition
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YORK (AP) — Forwards Taylor Twellman and Josh Wolff, midfielders
Clint Dempsey and Kerry Zavagnin, and defender Todd Dunivant were
among 20 players picked Wednesday by U.S. coach Bruce Arena for
next week's exhibition game against Poland.
Arena selected 11 Europe-based players and nine from Major League
Soccer to be on the roster for the March 1 game at Kaiserslautern,
Germany. He said not to read too much into his selections. (Related:
Full roster)
"There are some players not on that roster who are going to
be on the World Cup team," he said. "We just don't have
enough players to have solely a European-based team."
Arena plans to announce his 23-man World Cup roster in April. The
team will gather May 9 in Cary, N.C.
"We have some extra numbers in positions where we can afford
the opportunity to look at some of the European players in this
game and rest some of the domestic players," he said. "An
example of that would be Eddie Pope and Jim Conrad. Based on play
over the past month and a half, they would be included in this roster
if we were simply basing it on performances. But we have guys we
need to look at now."
Without the Europe-based players, the Americans are 3-0-1 in World
Cup warmups. The additions are goalkeepers Kasey Keller and Tim
Howard; defenders Gregg Berhalter, Carlos Bocanegra, Steve Cherundolo,
Eddie Lewis, Oguchi Onyewu and Jonathan Spector; midfielders DaMarcus
Beasley and Bobby Convey; and forward Brian McBride.
FIFA has designated March 1 as the only international fixture date
before the end of the European club season, meaning that is the
only time clubs are required to release players to national teams.
Arena said it is likely that only MLS and German-based players will
be available for the March 22 game against Germany in Dortmund.
Several players will miss the Poland game because of injuries,
among them captain Claudio Reyna (right ankle), John O'Brien (hip),
Chris Armas (left ACL) and Cory Gibbs (left knee). Pat Noonan, picked
for the roster, injured his hamstring Wednesday while playing for
the New England Revolution and is likely to miss the match.
After the two games in Europe, the United States will play Jamaica
on April 11 in Cary, then will have three home games in late May.
At the World Cup in Germany, the Americans play the Czech Republic
(June 12), Italy (June 17) and Ghana (June 22) in the first round.
The roster:
Goalkeepers: Tim Howard (Manchester United, England), Kasey Keller
(Borussia Moenchengladbach, Germany)
Defenders: Gregg Berhalter (Energie Cottbus, Germany), Carlos Bocanegra
(Fulham, England), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96, Germany), Todd
Dunivant (Los Angeles), Eddie Lewis (Leeds United, England), Oguchi
Onyewu (Standard Liege, Belgium), Jonathan Spector (Charlton Athletic,
England)
Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley (PSV Eindhoven, Netherlands), Bobby
Convey (Reading, England), Clint Dempsey (New England), Landon Donovan
(Los Angeles), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado), Kerry Zavagnin (Kansas
City)
Forwards: Eddie Johnson (Kansas City), Brian McBride (Fulham, England),
Pat Noonan (New England), Taylor Twellman (New England), Josh Wolff
(Kansas City)
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/national/2006-02-22-us-poland-roster_x.htm
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