EJ and Evans called up for WCQ in Honduras

By Money Mike


In just two days, the 2013 CONCACAF Hexagonal kicks off. For the United States, it's going to be one tough ride for them starting this Wednesday down in Honduras. Earlier today, Jurgen Klinsmann has called in 24 players for Wednesdays match including Eddie Johnson and Brad Evans. Both EJ and Evans were called up for a friendly this past week against Canada and both got the start in the match. With a much more experience USA side than we saw last week, it's highly unlikely that Evans will be in the starting lineup and because of the fact that you can only have a maximum of 23 players on your international roster come gametime, one of the 24 players that were called up will have to be left behind.


Rest of the team:

This won't be the same USA side we saw last week against Canada. That was full of inexperienced players, five players getting their first cap and just not everybody used to playing together. And luckily that wasn't our regular team because if it was, then we would have some problems here. However the key here will be our outside backs. The U.S. has dealt with injuries on the defensive end leading up to the final two matches in the third round of qualifying and right now Steve Cherundolo could be the biggest loss for the team defensively. We do know that Timothy Chandler accepted a call-up to the squad. He currently has nine caps for the U.S., but all of them were friendly matches. It's good to see Fabian Johnson on the squad after he went a full 90 minutes for Hoffenheim during their match this past weekend. He's been dealing with a knee injury for a couple of weeks and there have been questions on whether or not he would fully recover in time for Wednesday, but he's on the squad and ready to go. Both Chandler and Fabian Johnson better be on their toes because Honduras are going to go with Mario Martinez and Oscar Boniek Garcia on the wing for sure, and both of them are known for causing a lot of havock.

Another thing I want to point out is Jozy Altidore, who was the target of racist chants from the dutch football fans, is back on the squad. The 23-year old is currently tied for second in the league with 15 goals on the season and has made a lot of strides since joining AZ Alkmaar in 2011. Altidore currently has 13 goals in 52 appearances for the United States, but he hasn't scored since the friendly match against Slovenia back on November of 2011. In big matches like this one, this is where you need Jozy's goalscoring form in league football to carry on to the international level.


U.S. squad by position (caps/goals):

Goalkeepers:

Tim Howard (Everton; England) - 84/0

Brad Guzan (Aston Villa; England) - 20/0

Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire) - 3/0


Defenders:

Carlos Bocanegra (Racing de Santander; Spain) - 110/14

Michael Parkhurst (FC Augsburg; Germany) - 15/0

Geoff Cameron (Stoke City; England) - 11/0

Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim; Germany) - 10/0

Timothy Chander (1. FC Nuremberg; Germany) - 9/0

Edgar Castillo (Tijuana; Mexico) - 7/0

Omar Gonzalez (Los Angeles Galaxy) - 3/0

Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City) - 1/0


Midfielders:

Michael Bradley (AS Roma; Italy) - 72/11

Maurice Edu (Bursaspor; Turkey) - 42/1

Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht; Belgium) - 38/4

Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04; Germany) - 26/2

Jose Francisco Torres (Tigres de la UANL; Mexico) - 20/0

Danny Williams (Hoffenheim; Germany) - 11/0

Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City) - 7/1

Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC) - 7/0

Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo) - 6/0


Forwards:

Clint Dempsey (Tottenham Hotspur; England) - 91/30

Jozy Altidore (AZ; Netherlands) - 52/13

Eddie Johnson (Seattle Sounders FC) - 45/14

Herculez Gomez (Santos Laguna; Mexico) - 19/5

Projected Lineup:

Howard

Gonzalez           Bocanegra
Chandler                                                                   F. Johnson

Williams
Zusi                                                                    E. Johnson
Bradley

Dempsey         Altidore

Prediction:

The United States are 12-3-3 all time against Honduras. In fact their last visit to Honduras was a World Cup Qualifying match back on October of 2009. The United States defeated defeated Honduras 3-2 in that match to book their place in the 2010 World Cup. However this is a much different Honduras team than a few years ago. We all know this will not be an easy task for the U.S. Hopefully they can get a win over there. A draw would also be a good result. We won't know the outcome of this match until the final whistle is blown, but both teams look evenly matched, so I'm gonna go with a draw with this one.

USA-1 Honduras-1