USMNT roster for upcoming friendly against Switzerland

Note Freddy Adu in bold. Thank god we finally have him on our first squad, being that he plays for the best club of anyone on the USMNT, it is going to be great to see. And thank God that there is no Donovan.

Roster:

Goalkeepers: Marcus Hahnemann (Reading, England), Tally Hall (Esbjerg, Norway), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake).

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham, England), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, Germany), Dan Califf (Aalborg BK, Denmark), Jay Demerit (Watford, England), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege, Belgium), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock, Germany), Steve Purdy (1860 Munich, Germany).

Midfielders: Freddy Adu (Benfica, Portugal), DaMarcus Beasley (Rangers, Scotland), Michael Bradley (Heerenveen, Netherlands), Maurice Edu (Toronto), Benny Feilhaber (Hamburg SV, Germany), Eddie Lewis (Derby, England), Danny Szetela (Racing Santander, Spain)

Forwards: Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Preston Zimmerman (Hamburg SV, Germany), Sal Zizzo (Hannover, Germany).

CHICAGO (AP) - Benfica midfielder Freddy Adu was selected Tuesday as part of a nearly all European-based roster for the United States' training camp in preparation for its Oct. 17 friendly against Switzerland in Basel.
Adu, who has played only one league game for the 31-time Portuguese champion since his July transfer from Real Salt Lake, will be joined by five of his teammates from the U.S. Under-20 World Cup team.
Besides Adu, who has one cap for the United States, U.S. manager Bob Bradley also called in seven players who have never played for the American senior side - three of whom played at the U20 World Cup in July: Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Chris Seitz, Hamburg SV forward Preston Zimmerman and Racing Santander midfielder Danny Szetela.

Ronaldinho and Kaka messing around during the game and playing during the game of Brazil Vs. USA 9/9/2007

Ronaldinho and Kaka - Watch more free videos

"American goalkeeper Kasey Keller joins Premier League team Fulham"

WHOOO HOOO! One more American in the Barclay's Premier League. Oh wait. It is Kasey Keller and he isn't even the U.S. Men's National Team number one goalkeeper anymore.

LONDON (AP) -- United States goalkeeper Kasey Keller has joined Premier League team Fulham and could make his first start Saturday. He becomes the fourth American on the team, joining defender Carlos Bocanegra, midfielder Clint Dempsey and injured captain Brian McBride.

Tony Warner had been playing in the goal for Fulham during the first three, but seriously has been doing horrible. Warner is basically the reason for two of Fulham's loses this year after mishandling balls on two different opposing goals in two separate games.

I hope Kasey Keller does well because I like to see Americans do well abroad, but honestly I don't think he will do all that great. He will do better than pathetic Warner, but Keller looked pretty slow himself for the U.S. National Team during their short stead in this year's Copa America.

U.S. to play Brazil Sept. 9, replacing match against Mexico. WE ARE SCARED!!!

From the AP: "The U.S. soccer team will play South American champion Brazil in an exhibition game Sept. 9 in Chicago, replacing a match against Mexico that was called off because of financial problems."

"The Americans had been scheduled to play Mexico at Azteca Stadium on Sept. 9 in a rematch of the Gold Cup final. The game was canceled because of what the U.S. Soccer Federation said were "contractual and financial considerations ."

WTF, My opinion is that we are just scared. When will U.S. soccer realize that matches such as these in hostile environments are so important to the experience of our national team and how well we will do in major competitions such as the World Cup. I can not believe we are so scared.

On the Brasil match, of course we will play Brasil in the US, most likely where not many first team Brasilans will even play. But if this game was scheduled to be played in Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro we would probably say that we had "contractual and financial considerations" to make. I mean, when doesn't a national soccer team have "contractual and financial considerations" to make?

USA beats Uruguay 2 - 1 to advance in the U-20 World Cup

Yesterday was supposedly the "worst day of the year in sports" according to to several places and blogs, most significantly over at deadspin. They had a post called the "The Doggest Day of Summer, which said that "[they] are fully wrapped up in the most boring day of sports. No sports today..." Are they serious? I know that there wasn't any crazy hot dog eating contests or sideshows of this nature, but come on. Is soccer really that irrelevant in America that people would rather talk about hobo Olympics and food eating contests than the most beautiful game in the world?

Sorry that Deadspin or most other blogs did not notice, but yesterday the US youth Men's National Team played against Uruguay in the round of sixteen in the U-20 World Cup and came from behind to beat them in exciting and stunning fashion.

TORONTO
(AP) - Michael Bradley scored in the 107th minute, and the United States rallied past Uruguay 2-1 Wednesday night to advance to the quarterfinals of the FIFA Under-20 World Cup. The United States, seeking its first title, plays Saturday against Austria, which defeated Gambia 2-1. Luis Suarez put Uruguay ahead in the 73rd minute, scoring on a rebound after Edinson Cavani's header was stopped by diving American goalkeeper Brian Perk, who couldn't hold onto the ball. The United States tied the score in the 87th minute when Danny Szetela's cross intended for Andre Akpan was deflected into the net by Uruguayan defender Mathias Cardaccio. Bradley, son of U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley, redirected the go-ahead goal past goalkeeper Yonatan Irrazabal in overtime following a corner kick. "It said a lot about the character of the team," captain Freddy Adu said. "We never quit, we never quit." When the game ended, players from both team shouted at each other and pointed fingers. The Americans dismissed it as emotions running high. "Not a big deal," Bradley said. The Uruguayan coach skipped the post-match news conference. U.S. forward Josmer Altidore left the game in the 51st minute after getting hurt in a tangle with Martin Caceres.

Go USA! We are now in the quarter finals. If you haven't been watching up until this point, you should, but you might have to catch the games on a Spanish channel such as Gala-vision. Also, Mexico played Argentina in the Copa America Semifinals yesterday. I guess that this also does not count as a sport either ever though some of the most popular and exciting athletes in the world were participating... WATCH SOCCER NOT HOT DOG EATING CONTESTS.

Freddy Adu scores hat trick against Poland

Freddy Adu just completed an amazing hat trick against Poland in the 2007 U-20 World Cup in Canada... I am looking for the video, which will be up later... two of his goals are unreal... if anyone finds it send it to me... thanks

USA vs Paraguay Copa America

USA lost to Paraguay 3-1 on Monday. The scoreline is quite deceiving to how close the game actually was. Paraguay scored their third goal in the 94th minute on a awarded free kick that was a complete dive. The USA had so many chances in this game and more shots and shots on goal than Paraguay. Their chances were so clear too, some of the ones missed were complete freebies. Towards the end of the game after a USA player missed a complete open header at the top of the six yard box announcer Ray Hudson, who was obviously in favor of the US, finally gave in and said, "this is absolutely pathetic," and it was. In addition, Paraguay's goals were not earned, they were given to them by the US defense and goal keeping.

"We gave them too many easy chances. When you give good teams and good players easy chances, they're going to beat you," said Kasey Keller, the veteran U.S. goalkeeper. "But this is why we're here to give these young guys experience. Unfortunately, sometimes you need to make mistakes to learn."

Keller was slow on getting to both the balls that eventually went into the back of "the old onion-bag." Keller brings up a the idea that we brought all of these "young guys" to the Copa America to make them more experienced and this is something that I have been angry about all week after seeing the squad coach Bob Bradley announced for the 2007 Copa America. I understand that none of our veteran players refused to play and I understand we are trying to make our young boys more experienced. If this is the case... then where is Bocanegra... where is Dempsey or Onyewu... or Tim Howard instead of the old and slow (even though I love him) Kasey Kelly... all of these players are young and will be on our 2010 World Cup team. I know none of our players refused to play on the squad like Kaka and Ronaldinho did for Brasil, but we still could have had our entire "young" squad down there playing and gaining team chemistry in an hostile environment, which we desperately need.

The fact is that the USA doesn't care about this tournament. They won the CONCACAF Gold Cup and that is apparently enough to make everyone happy and keep Bob Bradley's job safe. As long as we won the Gold Cup, which is basically put on by the US in the US, everything is good... but it really isn't because our global reputation as a respectable football team is steadily declining and it makes me angry because I know that if we were at full strength we could take on anyone in the world. I really wish we took this tournament more seriously even though I know a lot of our young guys are getting vital experience and showing the hearts of gladiators.

Source: AP