Final World Cup Roster to be announced tonight

[WMR]

6 P.M. on ESPN or online at http://www.USSoccer.com

World Cup is almost here!!

It's going to be a tough 3 first games for the Americans, but man oh man, nothing beats the World Cup.

(All 64 games in HD on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC, BTW. )

[Betterread]

From ESPN - only surprise - Brian Ching is in but no Taylor Twellman. Is he hurt?

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U.S. roster set for GermanyESPNsoccernet

BRISTOL, Conn. -- U.S. national team manager Bruce Arena named the U.S. World Cup roster Tuesday live on "SportsCenter."



Thomas Shea/WireImage
Houston's Brian Ching will become the first player from Hawaii to play in the World Cup.The roster is headed by national team stalwarts Kasey Keller and Claudio Reyna. Both were named to their fourth FIFA World Cup roster.

The roster comprises 12 players that are based overseas, with the remaining 11 currently playing in MLS. Of the players named to the roster, only four have never played in MLS (Steve Cherundolo, Keller, Oguchi Onyewu and Reyna).

The biggest gamble by Arena appears to be in his selection of Chivas USA midfielder John O'Brien. O'Brien made the team despite a rash of injuries since his standout performance in the 2002 World Cup.

On his return to MLS, O'Brien has yet to play regularly for Chivas USA after rehabilitating a groin injury and recently sustained a strained left calf.


U.S. World Cup Roster 2006
Goalkeepers
Marcus Hahnemann
Tim Howard
Kasey Keller
Defenders
Carlos Bocanegra
Steve Cherundolo
Jimmy Conrad
Cory Gibbs
Frankie Hejduk
Eddie Lewis
Oguchi Onyewu
Eddie Pope
Midfielders
DaMarcus Beasley
Bobby Convey
Clint Dempsey
Landon Donovan
Pablo Mastroeni
John O'Brien
Ben Olsen
Claudio Reyna
Forwards
Brian Ching
Eddie Johnson
Brian McBride
Josh Wolff





The U.S. men's national team's three-game Send-Off Series prior to the 2006 FIFA World Cup will begin at The Coliseum in Nashville, Tenn., on May 23, before continuing to Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland on May 26, and concluding at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn., on May 28.

The three U.S. opponents will be Morocco, Venezuela and Latvia, respectively, with all three matches kicking off at 7 p.m. ET live on ESPN2 and ussoccer.com's MatchTracker.

The U.S. team was drawn into Group E for the 2006 FIFA World Cup along with the Czech Republic, Italy and Ghana. The United States plays its opening match against the Czechs on June 12 in Gelsenkirchen before meeting Italy in Kaiserslautern on June 17, then finishing group play against Ghana on June 22 in Nuremberg.

The alternates for the U.S. roster were also named as follows:

Goalkeeper: Tony Meola, Matt Reis

Defenders: Chris Albright, Gregg Berhalter, Todd Dunivant

Midfielders: Chris Armas, Chris Klein, Pat Noonan, Steve Ralston, Kerry Zavagnin

Forwards: Conor Casey, Chris Rolfe, Taylor Twellman

[RBA]

Originally Posted by WilyMoROCKS

but man oh man, nothing beats the World Cup.

Just MLB, NBA, Final Four, College Football, NFL, and the NHL Playoffs. And WNBA, Horse Racing, Olympics, Arena Football, the PBA, and Rugby. And Tennis, Dodgeball, Nascar, and watching grass grow on Astroturf.

[OUReds]

I was also surprised by Ching over Twellman who is not hurt AFAIK. Honestly though, that final forward slot will likely not see any time on the pitch. You'd see Donovan or Beasley playing up front before Ching/Twellman. Neither have the top flight experience to make an impact at this level.

I still can't believe how much we got screwed by FIFA in the group draws. In no other group would there even be a question of us advancing, but in this monstrosity... I dunno.

If you haven't seen top flight soccer (and I don't mean MLS, though it's better then nothing), give the World Cup a chance. Watch a few games between some reasonably equal opponents. "The beautiful game" is, well, ummm, beautiful and stuff.