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World Cup 2014 - Official squads

Argentina axed players:

Fabián Rinaudo
Franco di Santo
Gabriel Mercado
Lisandro López

Still three more players have to be axed.
 
Ivan Strinić dropped from Croatia squad due to injury. Still 5 more to be dropped after game against Mali
 
That's unfortunate. He really impressed me at Euro 2012, haven't seen much from him apart from a few Croatia qualifiers and Dnipro in the Europa League, but he's a more than solid left-back. Will Pranjić play left-back now? Bit of a shame how his career has gone by, he was too good at Heerenveen.
 
Yeah, he's been left out. He had a poor season this year, but Klinsmann should've give him a call nonetheless.

Edit: This is the final squad.

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i like the fact underperformes are being left...i want to see fresh blood in world cup not walking superstars who are past their best...

i´m even more excited about the WC if i see young prospect being introduced to bigest stage...
 
amineken22 said:
Yeah, he's been left out. He had a poor season this year, but Klinsmann should've give him a call nonetheless.

Edit: This is the final squad.

BoRTbvoIgAE1TsW.png:large
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Honestly, I could go either way. Landon is the greatest US Soccer player of all time, but he has really started to cool off over the last year. You could definitely argue that he is more deserving of a call-up than someone like Brad Davis who has played well over the last two to three years, but does not have Donovan's big game experience and heroics. However, I support Klinsmann's decisions and am excited to see how players like Yedlin, Green, Johannsson, and Brooks perform at the World Cup level. I really hope Yedlin and Johannsson see the field. Yedlin has the potential to be a great attacking right back and Johannsson is a technical forward that can play any of the front three positions. He's a great compliment to Jozy's power and pace. He hit a bit of a rough patch toward the end of the season with AZ, but he is good enough to earn a move to one of the top five European leagues should he have a great World Cup or another 20+ goal season in the Eredivisie.
 
I think it's a big risk. Lando has the most big game experience out of all the US outfield players. This would have been his 4th World Cup (02,06,10 and 14) and who else in the US roster has anything like that experience? Only DaMarcus Beasley maybe, even Deuce hasn't played in 4 World Cups. I'm not saying start him every game, but he would be the best option the have on the bench in a tight game.
 
Damjan said:
That's unfortunate. He really impressed me at Euro 2012, haven't seen much from him apart from a few Croatia qualifiers and Dnipro in the Europa League, but he's a more than solid left-back. Will Pranjić play left-back now? Bit of a shame how his career has gone by, he was too good at Heerenveen.
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You wouldn't believe how guys here in Croatia are happy that Strinić has been dropped, although he is the best left-back we have. He is, in my opinion, very underrated player, mostly because of not so convincing displays in his younger days when he was in Hajduk. But he, at least in my opinion, has improved massively in Dnipro.


The most obvious one for left-back now is Pranjić even though he is actually a winger. He is good, especially on offensive, at left-back, but not so good defensively. Some rumors in our press are that Kovač plans to use Ćorluka on left-back, but that is mostly because he played great in one game he played there, in 3-0 victory against Turkey in Istanbul in Euro 2012 playoffs.
 
RockyJJP said:
On paper Spain still have the best squad, followed by Brazil & Germany
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I think Spain are going to be the big head to roll 1st round.

This team is knackered due to commitments on Cl, Europa and domestic leagues going to the wire.

Too many off form players like Pedro, Cesc, Iniesta coupled with a few retirees are all going to be factors
 
Cuky said:
You wouldn't believe how guys here in Croatia are happy that Strinić has been dropped, although he is the best left-back we have. He is, in my opinion, very underrated player, mostly because of not so convincing displays in his younger days when he was in Hajduk. But he, at least in my opinion, has improved massively in Dnipro.


The most obvious one for left-back now is Pranjić even though he is actually a winger. He is good, especially on offensive, at left-back, but not so good defensively. Some rumors in our press are that Kovač plans to use Ćorluka on left-back, but that is mostly because he played great in one game he played there, in 3-0 victory against Turkey in Istanbul in Euro 2012 playoffs.
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Like I said, he really impressed me especially at Euro 2012. Pranjić was one of my favourite players when he played at Heerenveen, he looked like he did everything without any effort at all. Not sure about Ćorluka at left-back, he's good defensively but isn't quick enough and I imagine he wouldn't really add a lot offensively.
 
Landon Donovan didn't have to start OR even come off the bench necessarily but he should have been part of squad for the reasons Edmundo mentioned. It's very useful to have a player with THAT sorta experience and pedigree in the locker room and in the squad in a big pressure situation like World Cup.
 
cfdh_edmundo said:
I think it's a big risk. Lando has the most big game experience out of all the US outfield players. This would have been his 4th World Cup (02,06,10 and 14) and who else in the US roster has anything like that experience? Only DaMarcus Beasley maybe, even Deuce hasn't played in 4 World Cups. I'm not saying start him every game, but he would be the best option the have on the bench in a tight game.
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He does have a lot of experience, but I think he started to burn his bridges with Klinsmann and the national team two years ago when he went on a self-imposed sabbatical right as the World Cup qualifiers were starting. Fortunately for Donovan, Klinsmann was gracious enough to allow him back into the national team setup for the 2013 Gold Cup -- where he was the tournament's best player -- and the final qualifiers in which he looked like he was going to be a sure lock for the national team. However, Landon has started off this season in very poor form, overweight, and injured. Chris Wondolowski (Donovan's direct competition) in contrast has started off the season in very good form and scored in the friendly against Mexico last month, continuing his international scoring streak from February's friendly against South Korea and last summer's Gold Cup. Klinsmann decided to go with the hot hand and I respect that decision. Honestly, I think more US fans should have seen this decision as a possibility given that Dempsey and Donovan play the exact same role under Klinsmann. Also (and surprisingly), neither of them have played up top together during the entirety of Klinsmann's tenure thus far (i.e., sabbatical, injury, manager's doghouse, etc.), meaning that Donovan was only going to be a substitute at best because Clint is the captain. I applaud Klinsmann for making a gutsy decision. Why take a possible distraction with you to Brazil when you need everyone's full concentration to have the chance of making it out of one of, if not the, most difficult groups in the tournament? Am I surprised? Yes. Am I worried? No, not as much as everyone else seems to be.

bebo said:
Lando not coming is huge news in US::COAT:
Jozy had the worse season of the lot. Lando shines for the NT.
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The Jozy that plays for the national team is completely different from the one that plays for Sunderland -- thank goodness!
 
PIPA23 said:
i´m even more excited about the WC if i see young prospect being introduced to bigest stage...
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i don't share this opinion. best players must be on this stage, not prospects. they have more than enough youth competitions.

it kills the joy for me.
 
Mignolet propbably out for the WC.
It seems he got a serious injury at training today. (A training before 20.000 fans, crazy hype at the moment).

Kaminski is called up as replacement.

So the GK at the moment are Courtois - Bossut - Kaminski

Our second (Mignolet), third (Casteels), fourth (Gillet,banned) and fifth (Proto, broke his arm) are out.

Let's hope Courtois will not be injured in the CL final...
 
Coach Vahid axed 5 players: Khoualed, Karaoui, Kadir, Boudebouz and Djebbour. Still 2 to go.

I've edited my post.
 
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user name 99 said:
Boudebuz and Djebbour??? I thought they were star players or so.
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Boudebouz a star player? Hell, no. He's yet to fufil his potential (needs a serious attitude ajustment). He had several chances, but failed to impress in various roles, plus Coach Vahid doesn't really like him.

As for Djebbour...well, he's a really weird case: he performs well at club level, but doesn't replicate that with the NT, infact it has been over two years since he last scored at an international level. I don't know if it's confidence or something else, but he's become more of a fringe player with the NT over the years (Slimani and Soudani raising up certainly didn't help.
 
Boudebouz will probably never fulfill potential because like amineken said his attitude sucks!

Selfish little bastard.
 
Vicente del Bosque has called up Gerard Deulofeu for a pre-World Cup friendly, and says he'll wait to name his final squad.
 
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