Arena's 28-Player Training Camp Roster Set as U.S. Men's National Team Preps for 2002 Gold Cup
CHICAGO (Thursday, January 3, 2002) - United States Men’s National Team head coach Bruce Arena has named a 28-man roster that will train for the upcoming 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup to be held Jan.18-Feb. 2 in Pasadena and Miami. The team will begin training in Claremont, Calif. on January 5. The U.S. will open Group B play against South Korea on Saturday, January 19, 2002 at 3 p.m. PT at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. The USA meets Cuba on Monday, January 21 at the same venue, the match also slated for a 3 p.m. PT kickoff.
Jan. 3, 2002
"We are very anxious to get back on the field and begin the process of improving our team as we head towards the World Cup this summer," said Arena. "This tournament provides us an opportunity to give our players the chance to begin to regain their fitness and soccer sharpness, and at the same time demonstrate how they can contribute to our roster. It is certainly prestigious to compete in our region’s premier tournament, and we want to represent ourselves well."
MLS players once again dominate the training camp roster, with eight teams represented from the domestic league. The Chicago Fire contributes six players to the U.S. contingent, led by the strike partnership of Ante Razov and Josh Wolff. The 24-year old Wolff is returning from a training stint alongside fellow U.S. international Brad Friedel at Blackburn Rovers. Fire goalkeeper Zach Thornton has backstopped the U.S. in its last two matches, earning Chevrolet Man of the Match honors in the USA’s final qualifier against T&T, while Chris Armas led the U.S. in 2001 in both appearances (13) and minutes played (1170), along with Jeff Agoos.
Agoos, the MLS Defender of the Year, is one of four members of the 2001 MLS Cup champion San Jose Earthquakes enlisted to join Arena’s camp. Landon Donovan, the leading scorer in the 2001 MLS playoffs with five goals in six matches, has the opportunity to break into double digits in caps with the senior team. Teammates Manny Lagos and Richard Mulrooney made their international debuts in the USA’s last match against South Korea on Dec. 9 in Seogwipo, Korea.
The Columbus Crew also sends four players, including their forward line of Brian McBride and Jeff Cunningham. Midfielder Brian Maisonneuve returns after a lengthy absence from the U.S. side, last earning a cap for the United States in the 1998 World Cup.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, veteran Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder Cobi Jones has increased his total caps for the USA to 145, sitting in fifth place on the all-time international cap-winners list.
Tony Meola returns to the roster where he could come closer to reaching the 100-cap plateau. Meola, who missed much of the 2001 MLS season with an abdominal injury, has made 97 appearances for the United States, which includes 36 wins and 31 shutouts (all U.S. goalkeeping records).
A pair of European-based players will make their return to the U.S. fold during this camp. Bayer Leverkusen defender Frankie Hejduk joins the National Team for the first time in nine months, last appearing in the 2-1 loss to Brazil on March 3, 2001, at the Rose Bowl. Hejduk holds 30 caps for the USA and played on the 1998 Gold Cup team that reached the final. Eddie Lewis returns after a similar absence, six months separating his last callup to the National Team. Lewis, in his third season with Fulham in England, made six appearances for the U.S. during the 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign.
The United States has never defeated South Korea, holding an 0-3-1 lifetime record in four previous meetings. The U.S. will meet South Korea for the second time in six weeks. The teams last met Dec. 9, 2001 in Seogwipo, Jeju Province, as the Koreans snatched a 1-0 victory before a sold-out crowd of 42,256 fans at Jeju Stadium. The teams will meet once more on the world stage in 2002, the final time in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Drawn into Group D along with Portugal and Poland, the teams will meet in the second match of group play on June 10 in Daegu.
The match-up against Cuba will be a rematch of a 1998 Gold Cup first-round meeting between the two teams in Oakland, which the U.S. won 3-0 in their first match-up since 1948. In four all-time appearances against the island nation, the U.S. is 2-1-1.
The U.S. Men's National Team's two group matches of the 2002 Gold Cup on Jan. 19 and Jan. 21 against South Korea and Cuba, respectively, will be televised live on pay-per-view by Innovative Sports Marketing. The games will be available on the following pay-per-view cable and satellite systems: DirecTV, Dish Network, InDemand 2 and TVN. Other matches from the tournament will be televised on Fox Sports World, as well as the Spanish-language networks Univision and Galavision.
The sixth CONCACAF Gold Cup is being staged from Jan. 18 through Feb. 2 as a 12-team tournament in California and at the Orange Bowl in Miami. With the U.S., Korea and Cuba matched up in Group B, the remaining Los Angeles-based groups consist of Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador in Group A. In Miami, Group C holds Costa Rica, Trinidad & Tobago, and Martinique, while Group D is made up of Canada, Ecuador and Haiti. The tournament quarterfinals will be staged at the Rose Bowl on January 27, while the Miami quarterfinalists will square off at the Orange Bowl on January 26. The tournament semifinals and finals are slated for Pasadena on Jan. 30 and Feb. 2.
|
U.S. Men's National Team Training Camp Roster | |||||||
|
Name |
Pos. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Birthdate |
Caps |
Hometown |
Club |
| Agoos, Jeff | D | 5'10" | 175 | 05/02/68 | 117/3 | Dallas | San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) |
| Armas, Chris | M | 5'7" | 150 | 08/27/72 | 35/2 | Brentwood, N.Y. | Chicago Fire (MLS) |
| Beasley, DaMarcus | F | 5'7" | 126 | 05/24/82 | 3/0 | Ft. Wayne, Ind. | Chicago Fire (MLS) |
| Bocanegra, Carlos | D | 6'0" | 170 | 05/25/79 | 1/0 | Alto Loma, Calif. | Chicago Fire (MLS) |
| Califf, Dan | D | 6'1" | 175 | 03/17/80 | 0/0 | Orange, Calif. | Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS) |
| Convey, Bobby | M | 5'8" | 150 | 05/27/83 | 2/0 | Philadelphia, Pa. | D.C. United (MLS) |
| Cunningham, Jeff | F | 5'8" | 155 | 08/21/76 | 1/0 | Crystal River, Fla. | Columbus Crew (MLS) |
| Donovan, Landon | F | 5'8" | 148 | 03/04/82 | 9/1 | Redlands, Calif. | San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) |
| Hejduk, Frankie | M | 5'8" | 155 | 08/05/74 | 30/5 | Cardiff, Calif. | Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) |
| Howard, Tim | GK | 6’3" | 210 | 03/06/79 | 0/0 | North Brunswick, N.J. | MetroStars (MLS) |
| Jones, Cobi | M | 5'7" | 145 | 06/16/70 | 145/14 | Westlake Village, Calif. | Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS) |
| Lagos, Manny | M | 6'0" | 165 | 06/01/71 | 1/0 | St. Paul, Minn. | San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) |
| Lewis, Eddie | M | 5'10" | 155 | 05/17/74 | 29/2 | Cerritos, Calif. | Fulham FC (England) |
| Llamosa, Carlos | D | 5'11" | 166 | 06/30/69 | 25/0 | Maspeth, N.Y. | Fusion FC (MLS) |
| Maisonneuve, Brian | M | 5'11" | 170 | 06/28/73 | 10/0 | Warren, Mich. | Columbus Crew (MLS) |
| Mastroeni, Pablo | M | 5'10" | 170 | 08/26/76 | 2/0 | Phoenix, Ariz. | Fusion FC (MLS) |
| Mathis, Clint | M/F | 5'10" | 170 | 11/25/76 | 11/3 | Conyers, Ga. | MetroStars (MLS) |
| McBride, Brian | F | 6'1" | 170 | 06/19/72 | 50/14 | Arlington Heights, Ill. | Columbus Crew (MLS) |
| Meola, Tony | GK | 6'1" | 205 | 02/21/69 | 97/0 | Kearny, N.J. | Kansas City Wizards (MLS) |
| Mulrooney, Richard | M | 5'9" | 160 | 11/03/76 | 1/0 | Memphis, Tenn. | San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) |
| Pope, Eddie | D | 6'1" | 180 | 12/24/73 | 44/4 | High Point, N.C. | D.C. United (MLS) |
| Razov, Ante | F | 6'1" | 175 | 03/02/74 | 19/5 | Whittier, Calif. | Chicago Fire (MLS) |
| Rimando, Nick | GK | 5'11" | 181 | 06/17/79 | 0/0 | Montclair, Calif. | Fusion FC (MLS) |
| Thornton, Zach | GK | 6'3" | 210 | 10/10/73 | 8/0 | Edgewood, Md. | Chicago Fire (MLS) |
| Vanney, Greg | D | 5'11" | 169 | 06/11/74 | 15/0 | Tempe, Ariz. | Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS) |
| West, Brian | M | 5'9" | 155 | 06/10/78 | 2/0 | Columbia, Md. | Columbus Crew (MLS) |
| Williams, Richie | M | 5'5" | 145 | 06/03/70 | 17/0 | Middletown, N.J. | MetroStars (MLS) |
| Wolff, Josh | F | 5'8" | 160 | 02/25/77 | 10/3 | Stone Mountain, Ga. | Chicago Fire (MLS) |
|
Team Staff | ||
| Head Coach | Bruce Arena | Fairfax, Va. |
| Assistant Coach | Dave Sarachan | Ashburn, Va. |
| Assistant Coach | Glenn Myernick | Denver |
| Assistant Coach | Bob Bradley | Palatine, Ill. |
| Goalkeeper Coach | Milutin Soskic | Bakersfield, Calif. |
| General Manager | Pam Perkins | Evanston, Ill. |
| Trainers | Ivan Pierra | Los Angeles |
| Bruce Snell | Tacoma, Wash. | |
| Equipment Manager | Aaron Barrett | Chicago |
| Director of Security | Gene Williams | Richmond, Va. |
| Press Officer | Michael Kammarman | Chicago |
