Not the worst jersey by far but I do have high hopes for the Waldo home jersey.Moving on to less important stuff, here's the March release of Hopeful USMNTers. (Some new faces on the top twenty!)
Predicited caps. Player - Position - (Team - League) - Age
129. Bobby Wood - ST - (1860 Munich - Germany.2) - 19.3
117. Bill Hamid - GK - (D.C. United) - 21.3
108. Eric Lichaj - RB - (Aston Villa - England.1) - 23.3
104. Joseph Gyau - LM - (1899 Hoffenheim - Germany.2) - 19.5
104. Kelyn Rowe - CM - (New England Revolution) - 20.2
98. Timothy Chandler - RB - (FC Nurnberg - Germany.1) - 22
98. Josh Gatt - RW - (Molde FK - Norway.1) - 20.5
94. Jack McInerney - ST - (Philadelphia Union) - 19.5
92. Corey Hertzog - ST - (New York Red Bulls) - 21.5
92. Dilly Duka - CAM - (Columbus Crew) - 22.5
91. Perry Kitchen - CB - (D.C. United) - 20.0
87. Andrew Oliver - F - (Chicago Fire Academy) - 17
87. Daniel Potts - LB - (West Ham United - England.2) - 17.9
84. Sean Johnson - GK - (Chicago Fire) - 22.8
84. Luis Gil - CAM - (Real Salt Lake) - 18.4
81. Mikkel Diskerud - M - (Stabaek - Norway.1 :: LOAN :: Gent - Belgian.1) - 21.4
81. Greg Garza - LB - (Tijuana - Mexico.1) - 20.5
80. Marc Pelosi - M - (Liverpool Academy) - 17.7
80. Sebastian Lletget - M - (West Ham United Reserves) - 19.5
79. Joe Corona - M - (Tijuana - Mexico.1) - 21.7
Drop outs
77. Omar Salgado - ST - (Vancouver Whitecaps) - 18.5
67. Zarek Valentin - D - (Montreal Impact) - 20.5
65. Raul Mendiola - F - (Los Angeles Galaxy) - 17.8
Latest info on players...
- Wood is still recovering from an injury. A lot of small injuries and his club is taking it slow.
- Hamid received his first cap against Venezuela on January 21st. He has displayed brightly for the U23s and started the first half against Mexico on the 29th. He has a big save here at 0:50 and shows good communication for the entirety of the play. He handles a cross proficiently at 1:15 as well.
- Lichaj has been getting full games with the AVL reserves as of mid-February. He also is returning from an injury.
- Gyau has also been training with the U23s and seems a lock for the Olympic team.
- Rowe, McInerney, Hertzog, Duka, Kitchen, and Gil are getting ready to kick off the MLS season. Rowe looks to make a splash with New England as a rookie while McInerney and Hertzog fight for playing time in a crowded field. McInerney collected 562 minutes last year while Hertzog only picked up 32. Kitchen has the most stable position in his club but Duka and Gil are young stars looking to build off last year.
- Chandler has been playing well for Nurnberg.
- Gatt's coaches at Molde did not release him to play with the U23s but he was not upset at the decision. He agreed he need to rehabilitate to get back to 100%. He does have a tough decision to make in the future as the Olympics and Champions League will conflict. He answered in an interview, "The Olympics is a big thing for Americans, and it would be an honor to represent my nation in London. But Molde is my employer, og the CL qualifiers is something I had never even dreamt of doing as at 20. It's up to the club. I will accept both scenarios."
- Oliver just finished training with Tab Ramos and the U20s.
- Potts is training with England's U18s in preparation for the upcoming game against Poland on the 7th. Potts has not stated which country he holds preference with but with the shallow pool at LB, Potts could be an asset to the '14 WC team.
- Johnson played the second half against Mexico. A nice save from a redirection here at 3:10 and collides with the captained Ike Opara at 4:30 after a scramble in the box.
- You'll miss Diskerud's second goal against Mexico if you blink so make sure to tape your eyes open to see it. He also sent in the cross to Agudelo who scored a minute before Diskerud did. He is taking a Q&A session at BigSoccer.com.
- Garza has been finding sparse minutes for Tijuana, most recently the last eleven minutes on March the 2nd. Another future-LB option for the US.
- Pelosi had a nice write up on him by Youth US Soccer-expert Brian Sciaretta. I've read that Liverpool is glad he is part of the program and the fans like the American as well.
- Lletget made the squad but didn't play against Mexico with the U23s. I haven't heard a lot of him recently. He's on the reserve squad with Potts at West Ham, where center back George John just recently ended his trial to go back to FC Dallas. Hopefully John and Lletget have had a positive influence on Potts to consider USA more highly.
- Corona pulled off a nice bike here at 0:52 and went the full 90 against Mexico. He picked up a goal on the 26th for Tijuana from nicely placed cross (start at 0:35).
Salgado and Valentin are starting up the MLS in Canada. Valentin will be with his new club in Montreal while Salgado returns to Vancouver. Last I heard on Mendiola is that he is back in Los Angeles. There were rumors of being tied to LA Galaxy's reserve squad but I haven't seen anything official yet.
Fabian Johnson (3), Danny Williams (5), and Terrance Boyd (1) all received caps against Italy. And should continue to climb up the Hopeful USMNTers list.
On a last note, Claudio Reyna and Tony Meola were inducted into the US Hall of Fame. Reyna is one of three Americans to ever make the World Cup all-tournament team and Meola was the starting goalkeeper for America's first two post-1950 World Cup squads. Some players that did not make the cut were century-capped striker Joe-Max Moore (57.84), iconic hairdo Carlos Valderrama (43.14), and prolific MLS scorer Jason Kreis (30.39), all of which I feel like have done enough for US soccer to be rewarded with a trip to the Hall.
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