the fears I had about this team actually not qualifying for the WC were justified by those last 2 games.

I liked what I saw from Danny Williams in the center of the pitch. He is a much better center mid. Not a winger. There was some great movement in the first half and excellent passing. Very good flow. Well, the passing was good until jermaine jones finds the ball. Then it's a bull in a china shop situation. I don't see him staying on as a starter for much longer. Positive game for sure. Cameron is looking very sold as a center back, which will be huge down the road.

Jones played a terrible game in Jamaica and was one of the best for my in Columbus. He broke up a ton of plays Tuesday and ran his ass off. To be fair, he was playing in Bradley's spot when he is more comfortable in the deeper lying destroyer role Danny Williams was playing. If Danny can play that well consistently though, I would agree he is probably a better option than Jones.

When we finally get healthy and put our best XI on the field we will see much less of Edu, Torres and Jones though.

Klinsmann seems less inclined to ever even actually use our best XI than Bradley was.

http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/blog/_/name/us_national_soccer/id/8435577/us-soccer-exclusive-interview-jurgen-klinsmann

Give that a read. JK is increasingly coming off to me as someone who doesn't have a clue what is going on.

Klinsmann's selections get more bizarre everytime. He keeps giving call-ups to these random unknowns that play for 2nd divison German and Scandinavian clubs and dont speak english but he wont give Lichaj, who stats consistently for Villa, a sniff.

The roster: GOALKEEPERS (3) : Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS (8) : Carlos Bocanegra (Racing Santander), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Edgar Castillo (Club Tijuana), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Maurice Edu (Stoke City), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaelland)
MIDFIELDERS (8) : Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Roma), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht), Brek Shea (FC Dallas), Danny Williams (Hoffenheim), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)
FORWARDS (5): Clint Dempsey (Tottenham Hotspur), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Herculez Gomez (Santos), Alan Gordon (San Jose Earthquakes), Eddie Johnson (Seattle Sounders)

Altidore posted some stuff about JK on twitter following an ESPN interview that wasn't very flattering towards him. I assume this is why he didn't get called in. Watching him loaf around the pitch against Jamaica as a sub that needed to hold up and close out the game was disgraceful anyway....

Why Beckerman? Why?

Jones and Shea are banged up.....so is Donovan but he cancelled his MRI so maybe he is fine.


Howard

Cherundolo Cameron Bocanegra Johnson

Williams

Bradley Jones (if healthy)

Donovan Zusi

Dempsey

Gomez


I find it interesting that EJ and Alan Gordon are in the mix. Sort of indicates that if JK is desperate for a goal in one of these games he could plug one of these guys in late and start playing balls into the box as both are pretty good with their head....I doubt either sees the field unless that type of situation presents itself however...

I think this is the first team Klinsmann has called in where I've heard of everyone he called(though I only know Joe Corona from saying "who the fuck is Joe Corona" the other times hes been called.)

JK's reasons for leaving out Altidore:

When Jozy Altidore was left off the U.S. Men's National Team roster for a pair of crucial upcoming World Cup qualifiers, the decision looked to be a serious head scratcher considering Altidore has been one of the best forwards in Europe in the early months of the new club season.

It was no mistake though. It was a decision Jurgen Klinsmann made based, not on Altidore's club form, but rather on his national team form, which has been disappointing during Klinsmann's tenure as head coach.

"I communicated with Jozy that I was not happy about his latest performances with us, maybe even over the last 14 months," Klinsmann told media on Monday during a conference call to discuss the U.S. roster. "I think Jozy can do much, much better and the reason he is not coming in is mainly because of the performances in Jamaica and at home, also in training, also certain things that went on through the May-June camp."

Altidore has scored eight goals for AZ Alkmaar, good for the Dutch Eredivise lead, but his continued struggles to have a similar impact with the national team ultimately led Klinsmann to look at other forward options in San Jose's Alan Gordon and Seattle's Eddie Johnson for Friday's qualifier at Antigua & Barbuda, and the Oct. 16th qualifier vs. Guatemala.

That Klinsmann summoned Johnson and Gordon ahead of Altidore (and fellow missing forwards Terrence Boyd and Chris Wondolowski) for the games against Antigua & Barbuda and Guatemala was even more eye opening, but Klinsmann cited tactical reasons for his forward selections.

"I spoke to both to Wondo and Terrence and we wanted to bring in Eddie and Alan because both are really strong in the air," said Klinsmann. "We expect two difficult games where the opponents will probably play more defensively and kind of get a lot of numbers in their box to play more defensive against us, so we need to force things with crosses coming over the wings and get really strong in the air.

"They don't leave much space probably on the wings behind their back lines, so that's the reason we bring in Eddie and Alan, two guys that are really good in the air, that can lay balls off and that's how I also explained it to Terrence and Wondo."

The omissions of Altidore and Wondolowski seem to go against Klinsmann's previous comments about the importance of club form, but the U.S. coach made it clear that club form is just one factor he considers.

"It's absolutely important," Klinsmann said of his players' club form. "For sure, now it looks kind of a little bit different in Jozy's case because he's doing well with Alkmaar and he's scoring goals. But he hasn't done well with us in the last couple of camps and that is why now I have more trust right in these upcoming two games in Alan Gordon and Eddie Johnson.

"It is important that they have their club rhythm, it's important that they play well, it's important that they have their starting spot there. But it doesn't mean coming back into the national team, things are for granted, so that's as simple as it is."

As for whether Altidore's absence should be seen as a bad sign for his future with the national team, Klinsmann downplayed the long-term ramifications of the snub.

"This is a decision as of today, for these two games," said Klinsmann. "The door is always open and we hope to see a positive reaction from his end and put more effort and commitment into this whole approach and there will be the next calls coming up."

Landon Donovan and Brek Shea have been ruled out of the upcoming World Cup Qualifiers after further evaluations conducted by the U.S. Soccer medical staff today. No immediate replacements will be added.

I have no problem with what JK did with Altidore this time, the guy was going to be useless for us anyway. This way, maybe he comes into the next came with a fire lit under his ass. I will say though, this is a weak ass roster once you take Lando and even Shea off of it.

Its even weaker as now Fabian Johnson is going to be out with the flu. Supposedly Castillo picked up a knock in practice as well. With only a few days until the Antigua match I think this probably means......Bocanegra as the left back? Edu/Cameron or Goodson/Cameron as the CB pairing. Makes you wish Lichaj had gotten the call even more...

Why Klinsman didn't call in reinforcements after LD and Shea were ruled out is beyond me. Shea especially seemed to be almost certainly out from the word go. It's shouldn't matter in these two games.....key word "shouldn't"

We are really bad at soccer right now. So bad, we had to be bailed out against a country as big as Green Bay by the GAM:

score that one for klinssy i guess.

Alexi Lalas just said that the men will come out and win by three goals today thus making a statement that 'we advanced, and we have finally evolved into a good soccer team'. Uh, last time I checked beating Guatemala by three doesn't mean you are world class. How about doing that in the World Cup?

God I hate Lalas, he's the worst homer of US Men's Soccer.

so, how is the era of klinsmann going?

I should look up one of Klinsy's favorite platitudes in response to your question, but instead.....this face:

More German sloppy seconds!!

http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Mens-National-Team/2012/11/Timmy-Chandler-Ready-to-Make-the-Commitment.aspx

Nice read on Stu Holden. Seems like a great guy, rooting for him to get back.

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/12/holdens-long-road-back/