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USMNT: Who Should Start in Defense Against Costa Rica?
Published: March 19, 2013
After a string of injuries, the U.S. men's national team heads into Friday's crucial World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica in Denver with several familiar faces missing.
Goalkeeper Tim Howard and full-backs Steve Cherundolo, Timmy Chandler, Edgar Castilla and Fabian Johnson are all out injured. Experienced center-back and captain Carlos Bocanegra (110 caps) was not called up.
In their place, the U.S. has a few seasoned internationals mixed in with plenty of promising yet inexperienced new faces.
Aston Villa's Brad Guzan has the most experience of the three goalkeepers called into the squad, while Stoke City's Geoff Cameron and Brondby's Clarence Goodson are the only defenders with five or more appearances in World Cup qualifying.
Omar Gonzalez (L.A. Galaxy) played the full 90 minutes in last month's 2-1 loss at Honduras, which was his first qualifying appearance. None of the remaining defenders—Tony Beltran (Real Salt Lake), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City) and Justin Morrow (San Jose Earthquakes)—have appeared in qualifying, but more options are available from the pool of midfielders.
Cameron's teammate at Stoke, midfielder Maurice Edu, can also play central defense, and left-sided midfielder DaMarcus Beasley can play full-back (though he had an infamously poor performance there against Costa Rica in 2009). Both Beasley (26 qualifying appearances) and Edu (10) have plenty of experience at this level.
(For the full roster, click here.)
Clearly, then, coach Jurgen Klinsmann has plenty of options—though not necessarily any clear solution.
Assuming Klinsmann opts for a four-man defense, he could take one of many different approaches. At Soccer By Ives, Ives Galarcep proposes a back line of Beasley, Edu, Gonzalez and Cameron. In that lineup, Cameron would switch from his ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football
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