Predicting the 23-Man US National Team (March 14th edition)

It has been over a week since the United States Men’s National Team lost 2-0 to Ukraine in their last friendly on a FIFA Matchday. The match was in doubt for most the time leading up to kickoff due to the violence in Ukraine and a weird story about a Cypriot referee’s car being blown up. It was a very important fixture for Jurgen Klinsmann though as it would be his last opportunity to take a look at his European-based players before the deadline to name his 30-man provisional roster in May.

The United States still has one more friendly scheduled before the provisional squad deadline in a friendly with Mexico in early April at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ. This friendly will likely be filled with North American-based players from Major League Soccer and Liga MX as clubs will not be required to release players for this match.

Here is what I think the 23 man squad to Brazil looks like as of today, also including the seven players that I think will make the provisional squad.

Goalkeepers (3):

Starter
Tim Howard	Everton
Backups
Brad Guzan	Aston Villa
Nick Rimando	Real Salt Lake

This position grouping is set in my eyes as Howard will not be demoted at this point; he is one of the best American goalkeepers of all-time and this is certainly his final World Cup at age 36 when the tournament kicks off.

Guzan has been the back-up for a number of years now and will likely be the favorite to take over for Howard when the next cycle of World Cup qualifying starts.

Rimando will turn 35 during the World Cup but he has proven that he still has the abilities that he possessed in his youth. He had an amazing match against the Los Angeles Galaxy last weekend making nine saves including a last-minute penalty save. He will probably not see the field but he should be rewarded with the World Cup experience.

Defenders (7):

Starters
RB	Brad Evans	Seattle Sounders FC
CB	Omar Gonzalez	Los Angeles Galaxy
CB	Matt Besler	Sporting Kansas City
LB	DaMarcus Beasley	Puebla
Backups
	Geoff Cameron	Stoke Ctiy
	Clarence Goodson	San Jose Earthquakes
	Michael Parkhurst	Columbus Crew

Three of the starting spots are locks in my opinion with Gonzalez, Besler and Beasley occupying those spots. The right back has been a question for a long time now with Brad Evans currently leading the pack in the race for that role.  One of the biggest complaints about Evans is that he is not a natural right back, so why is he starting over somebody who plays right back full-time for his club in Geoff Cameron?

It would be unfair to judge Cameron based on his play in the Ukraine friendly as the center-backs were caught out of position on multiple occasions leaving Cameron is vulnerable spots. Evans is better than Cameron when it comes to pressing forward into the attack which could end up being the reason why he starts in Brazil.

There is no doubt in my mind that Cameron will make the roster whether he is starting or not. Cameron is a very versatile player who can play right and center back as well as in the defensive midfield. Cameron is the third center mid behind Bradley and Jones in my opinion ahead of Kyle Beckerman.

Midfielders (9):

Starters
CM	Michael Bradley	Toronto FC
CM	Jermaine Jones	Besiktas
LM	Landon Donovan	Los Angeles Galaxy
AM	Clint Dempsey	Seattle Sounders FC
RM	Graham Zusi	Sporting Kansas City
Backups
	Kyle Beckerman	Real Salt Lake
	Fabian Johnson	TSG Hoffenheim
	Eddie Johnson	DC United
	Mix Diskerud	Rosenborg

This starting midfield is a lock barring injury. The interesting battles here will be for the backup positions. I like Fabian Johnson because of his ability to play winged midfield and defense.

Forwards (4):

Starters
CF	Jozy Altidore	Sunderland
Backups
	Aron Johannsson	AZ Alkmaar
	Terrence Boyd	Rapid Vienna
	Will Bruin	Houston Dynamo

Klinsmann has stated the Altidore is a player that he’d like to build the team around but with Altidore’s recent struggles to get onto the pitch, keep an eye on Johannsson who could be creeping up the depth chart.

I put Will Bruin on this list because I think that he could have a huge next few weeks in MLS which could vault him over Magee and Wondolowski on the depth chart for USMNT; Bruin has two caps.

Provisional Cuts
	Juan Agudelo	FC Utrecht
	Chris Wondolowski	San Jose Earthquakes
	Sacha Kljestan	Anderlecht
	Alejandro Bedoya	Nantes
	Eric Lichaj	Nottingham Forest
	John Brooks	Hertha Berlin
	Tim Ream	Bolton Wanderers

Matches involving these 30 players this weekend (All Times Pacific)

15-Mar	TSG Hoffenheim	Mainz	7:30 AM	F. Johnson
	Hertha Berlin	Hannover 96		Brooks
	Everton	Cardiff City	8:00 AM	Howard
	Stoke City	West Ham United		Cameron
	Sunderland	Crystal Palace		Altidore
	Bolton Wanderers	Brighton & Hove Albion		Ream
	Nottingham Forest	Doncaster Rovers		Lichaj
	Lille	Nantes	8:30 AM	Bedoya
	Caykur Rizespor	Besiktas	10:00 AM	Jones
	Aston Villa	Cheslea	10:30 AM	Guzan
	Rapid Vienna	SV Josko Ried	11:00 AM	Boyd
	Seattle Sounders FC	Toronto FC	1:30 PM	Evans, Dempsey, Bradley
	Houston Dynamo	Montreal Impact	5:30 PM	Bruin
	Sporting Kansas City	FC Dallas		Besler, Zusi
	San Jose Earthquakes	Real Salt Lake	7:30 PM	Rimando, Beckerman, Goodson, Wondolowski
16-Mar	Twente Enschede	AZ Alkmaar	4:30 AM	Johannsson
	NEC Nijmegen	FC Utrecht	6:30 AM	Agudelo
	Anderlecht	KV Oostende	10:00 AM	Kljestan
	Puebla	U.A.N.L	11:00 AM	Beasley

Los Angeles Galaxy	Bye
Columbus Crew	Bye
DC United	Bye
Rosenborg	Season Starts on 3/29

Check back again next Friday and every Friday from now until the World Cup to see how my 23-man and provisional cut lists change.

MLS Roundup 3/9: Chivas USA starts on the right foot

Sunday brought us only one match on the Major League Soccer slate in potentially the last season opener for Chivas USA before they rebrand. The timing of that will coincide with their sale from the league to a potential buyer; MLS has stated that the buyer must commit to keeping the club in Los Angeles as well as building them a stadium of their own.

Chivas USA 3, Chicago Fire 2 (StubHub Center; 8,320)

It was a thrilling second half between these two teams as they combined for all five goals including the game-winner from center back Bobby Burling after a Mauro Rosales corner kick.

Chivas scored the first two goals, one coming from a penalty kick. Fire manager Frank Yallop decided to mix up the attack by bringing on Quincy Amarikwa and Benji Joya; the gamble worked perfectly as those two would provide the goals to bring the match level with six minutes of each other.

The Goats registered eight shots on goal which was the most by the team in league play since October 7, 2012 when they had nine in a 1-1 draw with FC Dallas.

Attendance Report:

3/9:                 8,320 fans / 1 game = 8,320 per game

Season:           169,039 fans / 8 games = 21,130 per game

NEXT MATCHES:

Mid-Week      San Jose Earthquakes, Los Angeles Galaxy and Sporting Kansas City in CONCACAF Champions League

Sat 3/15          Philadelphia Union vs. New England Revolution, 4 pm ET (Univision Deportes, MLS Live)

                        New York Red Bulls vs. Colorado Rapids, 4 pm ET (MLS Live)

                        Seattle Sounders FC vs. Toronto FC, 4:30 pm ET (NBC SN, TSN, RDS2)

                        Sporting Kansas City vs. FC Dallas, 8:30 pm ET (MLS Live)

                        Houston Dynamo vs. Montreal Impact, 8:30 pm ET (MLS Live)

                        San Jose Earthquakes vs. Real Salt Lake, 10:30 pm ET (MLS Live)

Sun 3/16        Portland Timbers vs. Chicago Fire, 3 pm ET (UniMas)

                        Chivas USA vs. Vancouver Whitecaps, 7 pm ET (CTV2 BC, MLS Live)

MLS Roundup 3/8/14: Late Drama in Cascadia

The opening day of the Major League Soccer season did not disappoint in the excitement factor; it was a day full of high drama, late goals, sloppy play, replacement refs and surprising results. Seven matches were on the docket and those matches gave us fans a total of 21 goals or an average of three per match. Obviously one team’s season will not be based on how they fared during the opening week but if this season turns out like last season did, any points dropped could come back to bite in the race for the Supporters’ Shield or postseason.

Seattle Sounders FC 1, Sporting Kansas City 0 (CenturyLink Field; 39,240)

Seattle Sounders (1-0-0, 4^th in West)

Sporting Kansas City (0-0-1, 7^th in East)

If there is anything that can be taken away from this series historically, it’s that you need to play to the final whistle. The Sounders had beaten Sporting four times with winning goals in second half stoppage time. Well make that five times. Second-half substitute Chad Barrett was in the right place at the right time to touch home the winner after Clint Dempsey’s header slammed off the crossbar in the 94th minute sending CenturyLink Field into jubilation.

Sporting will be disappointed that they lost the points late but they should not be too hard on themselves. Injuries forced manager Peter Vermes to start two different outside backs than normal as Seth Sinovic and Chance Myers were left in Kansas City to be ready for their CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinal clash with Cruz Azul of Mexico in mid-week.

Clint Dempsey did see about thirty minutes of action coming on for new signing Marco Pappa after playing 90 minutes for Fulham FC last weekend and for the United States Men’s National Team on Wednesday in Cyprus. He looked very well in combination play with his teammates despite having only one training session with them.

DC United 0, Columbus Crew 3 (RFK Stadium; 13,840)

DC United (0-0-1, 9^th in East)

Columbus Crew (1-0-0, 2^nd in East)

All of the talk heading into this match was about how well the new and improved DC United club was going to do in the upcoming 2014 season; even I got sucked up into the hype with this piece I wrote about Perry Kitchen. Well nobody outside of Columbus was talking about the Crew and they came out looking strong in their victory on Saturday.

Federico Higuain scored twice including a penalty kick in the 27th minute to effectively put the match away at the point; the penalty was a result of a foul by the previously mentioned Kitchen. The win gave new manager and former USMNT defender Gregg Berhalter his first win in charge of the Crew.

There are two players for Columbus who need to be praised for their great game those two are center-backs Michael Parkhurst and Giancarlo Gonzalez. These two held DC United’s attack partnership of Eddie Johnson and Fabian Espindola to three shot attempts and zero on goal. DC’s only shot on goal was taken by left back Cristian.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC 4, New York Red Bulls 1 (BC Place; 21,000)

Vancouver Whitecaps FC (1-0-0, 1^st in West)

New York Red Bulls (0-0-1, 8^th in East)

Remember that time when the Vancouver Whitecaps leading goalscorer went to Mexico? Or the time when they drafted a player with a top-10 draft pick only to find out the next day that he was already under contract with a lower-division club? The Whitecaps faithful had been treated to a pretty terrible off-season for the most part but things started to look up in the past week or so.

Vancouver was the beneficiary of the Toronto FC spending spree when they were forced to unload young-DP Matias Laba to bring the roster down to compliance. Laba made his first start for the Caps alongside Nigel Reo-Coker in a new look 4-2-3-1 formation under head coach Carl Robinson.

Kenny Miller scored twice as the Caps routed the Supporters’ Shield holders 4-1 in front of a sellout at BC Place. The Red Bulls were without star striker Thierry Henry who did not make the trip with the team. There is no official injury status on Henry but those close to the situation are referring to it as “turf-itis.” No word on how long it will affect him but we’ll make sure to update when we get word.

The Whitecaps finished with 10 shots on goal which is a new team record.

FC Dallas 3, Montreal Impact 2 (Toyota Stadium; 18,011)

FC Dallas (1-0-0, 2^nd in West)

Montreal Impact (0-0-1, 6^th in East)

The homecoming for Oscar Pareja got off to a rocky start as the Montreal Impact drew first blood when Sanna Nyassi scored off of a lovely cross from Justin Mapp in the 10th minute. Panic did not set in though as FC Dallas rattled off the next three goals to earn the three points at home.

It is worth noting that Montreal was missing three players due to suspension from red cards picked up in the playoffs last year including defender Nelson Rivas and attacking players Andres Romero and Marco Di Vaio. Romero and Di Vaio still have two matches remaining on their suspensions.

A player to watch for in the upcoming weeks in FC Dallas midfielder Mauro Diaz; the 22-year-old scored tonight playing under Blas Perez in the attacking set-up. Diaz is currently priced at $7.5 million in the MLS Fantasy game but is only owned by 2.2 percent of users, he may be one to jump on before his price spikes.

Houston Dynamo 4, New England Revolution 0 (BBVA Compass Stadium; 22,320)

Houston Dyanmo (1-0-0, 1^st in East)

New England Revolution (0-0-1, 10^th in East)

It was the Houston Dynamo show early and often in Saturday’s match as the Dynamo jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first 23 minutes with two goals and an assist from striker Will Bruin. This result was probably the most shocking considering just how stout the Revolution were defensively just a year ago; they brought back the core of the team and got blasted by Houston.

New acquisition Teal Bunbury tallied the only shot on goal for New England who just could not figure out the Dynamo center-back pairing of David Horst and Jermaine Taylor. Houston will host the Montreal Impact while the New England Revolution travel to the City of Brotherly Love.

Portland Timbers 1, Philadelphia Union 1 (Providence Park; 20,674)

Portland Timbers (0-1-0, 5^th in West)

Philadelphia Union (0-1-0, 3^rd in East)

The second instance of late-game Cascadia magic stole points away from what would have been a great result for the Philadelphia Union. Argentine signing Gaston Fernandez headed home a quick corner in the 94th minute to level up the match and split the points at 

Providence Park.

The biggest talk coming into this match was the potent, fluid offense of Caleb Porter’s Timbers with Darlington Nagbe, Diego Valeri and Fernandez given the freedom to switch positions almost at will behind Max Urruti up top. This offensive scheme only mustered two shots on target in the opener.

Jack McInerney picked up the goal for the Union off of a flicked on header by Maurice Edu from the Cristian Maidana corner kick in the 64th minute. It was a beautiful effort that could not be kept out by Donovan Ricketts.

Injury News: Timbers center-back Pa Modou Kah limped off the field in the 34th minute. I have not been able to find an update on his injury but I will pass it along when the information becomes available.

Los Angeles Galaxy 0, Real Salt Lake 1 (StubHub Center; 25,634)

Los Angeles Galaxy (0-0-1, 9^th in West)

Real Salt Lake (1-0-0, 3^rd in West)

Nick Rimando made nine saves including a penalty kick save on Robbie Keane in second half stoppage time to lift Real Salt Lake to the win. It was the club’s fifth straight opening-day victory.  Joao Plata scored the winning goal on a feed from Kyle Beckerman in the 80th minute.

Los Angeles was shutout despite taking 27 total shots and having 11 corner kicks. Landon Donovan will remain tied for the all-time lead in goals scored as a result of the shutout. The Galaxy will face off with Club Tijuana in the CONCACAF Champions League during this mid-week.

Attendance Report:

3/8                  160,719 Fans / 7 Games = 22,960

Season            160,719 Fans / 7 Games = 22,960

NEXT MATCHES:

Sunday 3/9                Chivas USA vs. Chicago Fire, 3 pm EDT (UniMas)

Tuesday 3/11              *San Jose Earthquakes vs. Toluca, 10 pm EDT (Fox Sports 2)

Wednesday 3/12        *Sporting Kansas City vs. Cruz Azul, 8 pm EDT (Fox Sports 2)

                                    *Los Angeles Galaxy vs. Club Tijuana, 10 pm EDT (Fox Soccer Plus)

* - CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinal Leg 1

EVANS RANKINGS:             The first edition of the MLS Rankings will not be released until we get some more relevant data which usually starts to occur after clubs have played four or five matches. We will release unofficial rankings for the first few weeks.

USL PDL 2014

The United Soccer Leagues announced details for the upcoming 2014 Premier Development League Soccer on Friday including the league alignment and schedule. This season there will be 64 clubs competing in ten divisions across four conferences and here at Evans Rankings, we will rank all 64 clubs based on their league results.

NEWS: The 2014 #PDL Schedule has been announced, with the 448-game regular season set to kick off on Saturday, May 3: http://t.co/MUL4bG8I1C
— USL PDL (@USLPDL) January 31, 2014

It will be the first full year of PDL coverage here and we could not be more excited for the upcoming American soccer season. Expect to see updated Rankings after each day where matches are played. The 2014 season kicks off on May 3rd when the Ventura County Fusion take on the Orange County Blues FC
Here is a look at the how the alignment looks for the 2014 season:

Central Conference

Great Lakes Division

Chicago Fire U-23

Forest City London

K-W United FC

Michigan Bucks

Pittsburgh Riverhounds U-23

Toronto Lynx

Heartland Division

Chicago Inferno

Des Moines Menace

Springfield Demize

St. Louis Lions

Thunder Bay Chill

WSA Winnipeg

Eastern Conference

Mid-Atlantic Division

Baltimore Boehmians

F.A. Euro

Jersey Express

Long Island Rough Riders

NJ LUSO Parma

Northern Virginia Royals

Ocean City Nor'easters

Reading United AC

Northeast Division

CFC Azul

GPS Portland Phoenix

Montreal Impact U-23

Real Boston Rams

Seacoast United Phantoms

Vermont Voltage

Westchester Flames

Western Mass Pioneers

South Atlantic Division

Carolina Dynamo

Cincinnati Dutch Lions

River City Rovers

SC United Bantams

SWV King's Warriors

West Virginia Chaos

Southern Conference

Mid-South Division

Austin Aztex

Houston Dutch Lions

Laredo Heat

Midland/Odessa Sockers FC

Mississippi Brilla

Southeast Division

Floridians FC

IMG Academy Bradenton

Ocala Stampede

Orlando City U-23

Panama City Beach Pirates

SW Florida Adrenaline

Western Conference

Northwest Division

Kitsap Pumas

Lane United FC

Portland Timbers U-23

Puget Sound Gunners FC

Seattle Sounders FC U-23

Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-23

Victoria Highlanders FC

Washington Crossfire

Mountain Division

Albuquerque Sol FC

BYU Cougars

FC Tucson

Las Vegas Mobsters

Real Colorado Foxes

Southwest Division

Fresno Fuego

LA Misioneros FC

Orange County Blues FC

San Jose Earthquakes U-23

Southern California Seahorses

Ventura County Fusion