The four players missing the cut were: Juan Agudelo, Graham Zusi, Alfredo Morales, and Danny Williams. Not any real shockers there as most folks believed Zusi, Morales and Williams wouldn’t make the cut at the start of the camp anyways.

Here is the full roster below, any surprised for you here?

GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS (7): Carlos Bocanegra (Rangers), Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo), Edgar Castillo (Club Tijuana), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Oguchi Onyewu (Sporting Lisbon), Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaelland)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Chievo Verona), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04), Jose Torres (Pachuca)
FORWARDS (6): Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar), Terrence Boyd (Borussia Dortmund), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Herculez Gomez (Santos), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)

The team will train in Orlando, Fla. until May 25, when Klinsmann will select a final 23-man roster for the upcoming five matches.

No Brek Shea or Kenny Cooper. Both really weren’t surprises in my book. What do you think of these additions (which are in bold)?

UPDATED U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION

GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)

DEFENDERS (8): Carlos Bocanegra (Rangers), Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo), Edgar Castillo (Club Tijuana), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Alfredo Morales (Hertha Berlin), Oguchi Onyewu (Sporting Lisbon), Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaelland)

MIDFIELDERS (9): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Chievo Verona), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04), Jose Torres (Pachuca), Danny Williams (Hoffenheim), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)

FORWARDS (7): Juan Agudelo (Chivas USA), Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar), Terrence Boyd (Borussia Dortmund), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Herculez Gomez (Santos), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)

Clint Dempsey headlines the early roster for the US. (Getty Images)

U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has named an initial squad of 16 players that will begin reporting today to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida.

The group is mostly built up with players that are foreign-based players who have completed their seasons.

As many as 13 additions will be announced May 20 and will be a mixture of domestic and foreign-based players to round out the training camp. The team will train in Orlando until May 25, when Klinsmann will select a final 23-man roster for the upcoming five matches.

INITIAL U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION 
GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS (4): Carlos Bocanegra (Rangers), Edgar Castillo (Club Tijuana), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Alfredo Morales (Hertha Berlin)
MIDFIELDERS (8): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Chievo Verona), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04), Jose Torres (Pachuca), Danny Williams (Hoffenheim)
FORWARDS (1): Clint Dempsey (Fulham)

Brek Shea and the US crashed out last night to El Salvador. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Soccer is a cruel sport sometimes. Make no mistake about it.

Yes it was a total collapse in a way by the US U-23 team last night against El Salvador in Nashville. Having a 3-2 lead late into extra time, with just seconds away from being able to move on to the semifinals, the unthinkable happened as El Salvador found a way to get by keeper Sean Johnson for the 3-3 draw.

Johnson will be remembered as the goat of the night as he failed to hold on to the shot Jamie Alas shot from distance. But let’s not blame him here, he certainly wasn’t alone in this. Yes the bobble was terrible but so was the play leading up to it by the US. As were the 10 minutes or so in the first half where coach Caleb Porter failed to get injured keeper Bill Hamid off.

Defending was absolutely pathetic in this tournament, more evident in this match. It was possibly playing three games in five days that did this bunch in, and the fact that Porter really didn’t juggle his lineups nearly enough to combat that issue. By the end of last nights game, the US looked exhausted from front to back.

There is no doubt this is a missed opportunity for the US. Sure this is a youth tournament in some ways but a lot of folks like to believe that a strong Olympic performance can yield a good run in the following World Cup two years later.

Blame will be spread all around and mostly at Porter though for this loss.

But the silver lining in some ways for MLS folks out there is that we’ll see Brek Shea in a Dallas uniform this summer and we’ll see guys like Freddy Adu, Sean Johnson, and Ike Opara with their respective teams as well. Yes it is disappointing not to see the US move on here but that is the game sometimes. We can’t have it all.

So I am moving on from this…it was fun during the Cuba game but after that it was just sad and frustrating to watch.

The 19-player roster will be finalized March 20, the due date for all participating teams to submit their rosters to CONCACAF. The U.S. will compete in Group A which kicks off March 22 at LP Field in Nashville, Tenn.

A total of 13 players on the roster come from MLS clubs, with D.C. United and the Philadelphia Union each contributing a pair.

GOALKEEPERS (2): Bill Hamid (D.C. United; Annandale, Va.), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire; Lilburn, Ga.)

DEFENDERS (6): Joshua Gatt (Molde; Plymouth, Mich.), Perry Kitchen (D.C. United; Indianapolis, Ind.), Ike Opara (San Jose Earthquakes; Durham, N.C.), Kofi Sarkodie (Houston Dynamo; Huber Heights, Ohio), Zarek Valentin (Montreal Impact; Lancaster, Pa.), Jorge Villafaña (Chivas USA; Anaheim, Calif.)

MIDFIELDERS (5): Joe Corona (Club Tijuana; Chula Vista, Calif.), Mix Diskerud (Gent; Oslo, Norway), Jared Jeffrey (Mainz; Richardson, Texas), Amobi Okugo (Philadelphia Union; Sacramento, Calif.), Michael Stephens (LA Galaxy; Naperville, Ill.)

FORWARDS (7): Freddy Adu (Philadelphia Union; Potomac, Md.), Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls; Barnegat, N.J.), Terrence Boyd (Borussia Dortmund; Berlin, Germany), Teal Bunbury (Sporting Kansas City; Prior Lake, Minn.), Joe Gyau (Hoffenheim; Silver Spring, Md.), Brek Shea (FC Dallas; Bryan, Texas), Tony Taylor (Estoril Praia; Jacksonville, Fla.)

It was a quick trip to the Big D for United States Men’s National team coach Jurgen Klinsmann on Sunday. The US boss was on hand for the MLS season opener between FC Dallas and the New York Red Bulls. He also was there to scarf Uncle Lamar’s statue in the North Gate at FC Dallas Stadium.

The spoke briefly to a few reporters before the game and offered up a few interesting nuggets. Klinsmann was definitely keeping tabs on some of the younger guys in MLS on Sunday with the likes of Brek Shea, Juan Agudelo, George John and Zach Loyd on the field.

“We empower the players to be the driving force so when Brek comes in or hopefully George comes in hopefully the next time or stuff like that or Zach Loyd comes in we say you guys are in the driver’s seat. You’ve got to show us how much you want this, how far you can go, how much you’re able to suffer and obviously your qualities that are given to you that you worked hard on many, many years. There is a lot of special talent coming through the ranks in the U.S. or even youngsters all over the world that have U.S. passports. That was never the case in soccer 10 years ago,” said Klinsmann.

But looking further into the talent pool, Klinsmann mentioned how important players in Mexico are to the growth of the national team.

“We basically have a bigger roster. We have obviously 20-25 right now that we feel very comfortable with but there’s an even more extended roster we fill with the January camp players, a lot of them and stuff. Herculez is part of them. I mean all the kids that play in Mexico and other places, we have them all on the radar screen. The Mexican clubs are pretty kind of surprised that we have our coaches go down to Mexico. We’ve never had that before. We look at them all the time and what we still have to figure out at the end of the day is what is the internal ranking for us? We go into May, June and we have 22 spots and we’ve got to make the best out of it. There’s an established ranking in every national team program. They’re there for a reason. It doesn’t mean that you kind of downsize anybody else. It is because the spot is taken.”

Depending on who you talk to or follow on Twitter, the new US Men’s National team road kits are either amazing or God awful.

For me, I fall right in-between the ugh and I wanna barf category. It just feels uninspired, like Nike is just reaching for it. The sash is getting old, at least in this style. The white sleeves are just odd in my book.

I think the goal for any kit manufacture like Nike is to have people want to see the kits and immediately want to buy them. This is the first time in a long time with a US kit that I don’t feel like I want to buy it.

What say you?

USMNT will face Italy next week. (Getty Images)

As expected, US Men’s National team coach Jurgen Klinsmann called a very Euro-based roster for next weeks friendly against Italy.

Only four MLS players were called up while the rest of the 21-man roster plays outside of the US. Some folks will be shocked not to see some of the usual Klinsmann guys like keeper Bill Hamid or midfielder Brek Shea, but the U23 national team also plays Mexico on the same day.

The match also takes place on the first FIFA international fixture date of 2012, which allowed Klinsmann to select all available players.

What do you all think?

U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION
GOALKEEPERS (3) :Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS (7) :Carlos Bocanegra (Rangers), Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo), Timmy Chandler (Nürnberg), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Michael Parkhurst (FC Nordsjaelland), Jonathan Spector (Birmingham City)
MIDFIELDERS (6) : Michael Bradley (Chievo Verona), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04), Jose Torres (Pachuca), Danny Williams (Hoffenheim)
FORWARDS (5) :Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar), Terrence Boyd (Borussia Dortmund), Edson Buddle (LA Galaxy), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy)

US fans will flock Florida for World Cup qualifying and a friendly. (Getty Images)

The US Men’s National Team will be heading back to Florida this year for a round of games, a couple that are critical to getting into the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

The U.S. will face Scotland on May 26 in Jacksonville, Fla. Kickoff at EverBank Field is set for 8 p.m. ET, and the match will be shown live on the NBC Sports Network in the channel’s debut broadcast of a Men’s National Team game.

The United States will kick off the effort to qualify for its seventh consecutive FIFA World Cup when they host Antigua and Barbuda on June 8 at Raymond James Stadium, marking the first World Cup qualifier in the state of Florida since 1980 when the US defeated Mexico in Ft. Lauderdale.

The U.S. has played Scotland six times in its history, holding a lifetime record of 1-3-2 in a series dating back to 1949. The teams last met on U.S. soil in the USA’s final preparation match before the 1998 FIFA World Cup, playing to a scoreless draw on May 30, 1998, in Washington, D.C.

Scotland should be a good test for the US team before qualifying starts. Having the game in Jacksonville is an interesting choice by the USSF but one that should work out pretty nicely (East coast city that is near a major international airport for many of the European-based players to come in and out of ).

I am a little surprised at picking Tampa as the venue for the two WCQ games. A large venue to host two very small teams. I really think the USSF could have done better at picking a smaller venue for those two games. But hey, that could just be me.

Ricardo Clark got a little redemption but that's about it. (Getty Images)

It has been a long time coming for the US Men’s National Team. A solid three-game winning streak.

Typically these sorts of things happen around the January friendly time. It certainly isn’t the first time this has happened but with Jurgen Klinsmann in as boss, it is.

So what can we take away from these last three games, or more importantly these last two against Panama and Venezuela? In all honesty not a ton.

For the most part Klinsmann now knows the type of depth is in his system. Most of this camp has been MLS players with a few players in Europe and Mexico mixed in. Some players he wanted to test out dropped out of the mix due to club situations and transfers. But for the most part we know that guys like Brek Shea, Jermaine Jones, and Teal Bunbury (though he didn’t have the best of night last night) are likely going to be mainstays for the foreseeable future.

But why not a Graham Zusi or Geoff Cameron or even a guy like Ricardo Clark who has found a bit of redemption? I think it is in due time that it happens for guys like that.

For me it is always hard to take these January friendlies that serious. It isn’t the because of who the US was playing – I thought both Panama and Venezuela were good tests – but because the US was missing a main core of it’s lineup.

If anything though Klinsmann can know that he has a group of guys that can go to a Central American country, get an early lead, lose a key defender and still win. Klinsmann can also know that he can take on a fairly decent B-squad from a tough South American opponent and come away with a hard fought late goal to win.

The US did a good enough job killing off the game last night that if it were a qualifier, most of us would be thrilled with the three points on the road.

In all, there were enough positives over the last couple weeks for this inexperienced group to outshine the negatives.

This January camp is now over and this group of players will likely not come back together for a while. A few will go on to the camp that will get together before the Italy match next month with the main core of the US squad from Europe. A game that should matter a little more than the last two.