USA gets to work in Miami

• by Soccer America , Mar 24, 2009

[HEXAGONAL] In Miami, where the climate is close to the high-80s expected in San Salvador on Saturday, 15 of the players of the USA's 22-man roster started training for its second game of the final round of World Cup qualifying.

Six more players will arrive in time for Tuesday's practice, while Danny Califf, whose Danish club Midtjylland played on Monday, arrives a day later.

"Today it was about regeneration," U.S. coach Bob Bradley told the Associated Press. "Of the 15 guys that are here today, I think 10 or 11 played 90 minutes on the weekend, and that's obviously a great thing for us. It's important with the amount of time a lot of those guys have played lately to understand what our week needs to be like, and with some of the guys who haven't played as much we push them a little harder."

The USA plays at El Salvador on Saturday and hosts Trinidad & Tobago April 1 in Nashville, Tenn. Before its 2-0 win Feb. 11 over Mexico to open Hexagonal play, the USA's full team practiced together for only two days.

"It's nice to have the week before a game, especially with the double fixture dates like these," captain Carlos Bocanegra, who arrived from France after playing for Rennes, told AP. "The last one against Mexico, some guys got in real late Sunday night and then to have to play Wednesday, that was a difficult turnaround. These are a little bit more normal."

The game in El Salvador is expected to be a 30,500 sell out at Estadio Cuscatlan.

USA Roster vs. El Salvador and Trinidad & Tobago
March 22-April 2, 2009

GOALKEEPERS
Brad Guzan (Aston Villa/ENG), Tim Howard (Everton/ENG), Marcus Hahnemann (Reading/ENG).

DEFENDERS
Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes/FRA), Danny Califf (FC Midtjylland/DEN), Jay DeMerit (Watford/ENG), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege/BEL), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock/GER), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United/ENG).

MIDFIELDERS
Freddy Adu (Monaco/FRA), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers/SCO), Michael Bradley (Borussia M"nchengladbach/GER), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers/SCO), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids), Jose Francisco Torres (Pachuca/MEX).

FORWARDS
Jozy Altidore (Xerez/SPAIN), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Clint Dempsey (Fulham/ENG), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Eddie Johnson (Cardiff City/Wales).