USMNT Roster announced.

USMNT Interim Head Coach announced his roster for the February 7th match against Mexico at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. All in all, the roster is only five players different than the one that was called into camp for the Denmark match. Mullan and Noonan have been left out due to injury and Califf and Pearce have returned to Denmark to start their pre-season training with their clubs. Taylor Twellman has been added to the roster after recovering from hernia surgery.

Goalkeepers (4) – Joe Cannon (Los Angeles Galaxy), Matt Pickens (Chicago Fire), Troy Perkins (D.C. United), Matt Reis (New England Revolution)

Defenders (9) – Chris Albright (Los Angeles Galaxy), Bobby Boswell (D.C. United), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Todd Dunivant (New York Red Bulls), Bryan Namoff (D.C. United), Michael Parkhurst (New England Revolution), Dasan Robinson (Chicago Fire) Eddie Robinson (Houston Dynamo)

Midfielders (7) –Kyle Beckerman (Colorado Rapids), Brian Carroll (D.C. United), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Joshua Gros (D.C. United), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Justin Mapp (Chicago Fire), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids)

Forwards (6) –Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Eddie Johnson (Kansas Cit y Wizards), Nate Jaqua (Los Angeles Galaxy), Chris Rolfe (Chicago Fire), Taylor Twellman (New England Revolution

The status of any European based players coming in will be decided a week before the match. Bradley has requested that eight players be released from their clubs in Europe for this match, there is no word on who those players are at this time.

I like the inclusion of Twellman as I think that a top strike-force of Cooper and Twellman would be a very strong tandem up top. If Bradley moves Donovan in right behind them, I think that the three of them should be able to provide enough problems for the Mexican back line to bring their midfielders back in support, cutting off their lines of attack.

I am a little unhappy that Califf and Pearce left the squad already. I thought that the Mexico match would be a really good for Pearce to be able to follow up his claims at being the best left back the US has. Playing against a Denmark B team is one thing; playing against Mexico and having a good match would definitely add weight to his statement.

Assuming that the European based players do not get released, here is the starting line-up I would trot out against Mexico:

Cannon

Robinson - Boswell - Conrad - Bornstein

Clark

Beckerman - Mapp

Donovan

Cooper - Twellman
Now considering that we all should expect to see a few of the European based players, this line-up would change. I think that we will see the following players called over from Europe:

Bocanegra
Beasley
Howard
Cherundolo
Wolff

I would have expected to see Deuce and Gooch, but Deuce just moved to London and probably still needs to get used to the surroundings and his club. Gooch will depend on if he moves and what type of move happens for him. If he goes to Chelsea, he probably wouldn’t be brought over for this match. If he is signed with Lyon (and considering they have lost two straight matches, they might push for his services) there is a chance they would leave him with Liege for the rest of this season on loan, in which case he would be in better shape for a quick trip across the pond.

In any case, I really think that this match might be the one that breaks the camels back in relation to our home record against Mexico. Something tells me that Hugo will either get his guys so fired up to win that they will blow it, or he will get the one victory that he blasted Lavolpe for never really getting. Either way, I doubt we will get as lucky as we did against Denmark. It will still be a good match and do what it is intended to do, get the guys ready for the gold Cup and the Copa America.