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FRISCO, Texas, June 23 (UPI) -- A United States squad containing 17 players from the 2014 World Cup was named Tuesday by coach Jurgen Klinsmann for the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The 23-man squad will attempt to win the Gold Cup and grab a spot in the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2017.
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"I think we keep on being in a certain way in a transition period, because always when you have new talent coming through, you never want to stop transitioning," Klinsmann told Goal.com. "Obviously we have to kind of now bring it to an end in the way that the Gold Cup is in front of us and we need to have results."
The team belongs in Group A, with Honduras, Haiti, and Panama. The first conetest will be July 7 against Honduras in Frisco, Texas. The team then faces Haiti on July 10 in Foxborough, Massachusetts and Panama on July 13 in Kansas City.
The roster includes: goalkeepers Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake), and William Yarbrough (Club Leon). Defenders on the team include: Ventura Alvarado (Club America), John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Timmy Chandler (Eintracht Frankfurt), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Fabian Johnson (Borussia Mönchengladbach) and Tim Ream (Bolton Wanderers). Mifielders selected include: Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Mix Diskerud (New York City FC), Alfredo Morales (Ingolstadt), DeAndre Yedlin (Tottenham Hotspur), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy), and Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City). Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Aron Johannsson (AZ Alkmaar), and Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes) made the cut as forwards.
"Our approach for putting together the roster for this summer's Gold Cup, which is very, very important to us, is obviously to do everything possible to win this competition," Klinsmann told Sports Illustrated. "Going into a Gold Cup, especially in our region here, experience means a lot. You need players that stay calm in very emotional and very difficult and very tough battles. It can get nasty. Things might not go your way in some moments. So you have to stay cool and you have to always be on top of things."
