Brad Guzan may have lost his role as a starter for English Premier League club Aston Villa, but he'll still be the USMNT's No. 1 at this summer's Gold Cup according to manager Jurgen Klinsmann.
Guzan, who had been the starter at Villa Park for more than two-and-a-half years, committed one of the gaffes of the season in April when he flubbed a pass directly to Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero, and was subsequently replaced by veteran Irish international Shay Given in manager Tim Sherwood's hierarchy.
“We are excited to have Brad Guzan back in our group. He will be the starter in the Gold Cup," said USMNT manager Jurgen Klinsmann in a Q&A on USSoccer.com. "He is our number one, so it’s really important for him to pick up games with us. It’s exciting, even if he had some tough weeks at Aston Villa where suddenly the coach for whatever reason decided to put him behind Shay Given. That surprised us big time, but he fights through that and he will be sharp and hungry for the long summer.”
This will be Guzan's first US camp of 2015, having skipped the March friendlies against Denmark and Switzerland due to the birth of his child.
Further up the field, the Jermaine Jones Center Back Experiment has come to a close. Klinsmann said the veteran will be moving back to his natural home in midfield.
"We think we have a very strong and stable backline and we don’t need Jermaine in the center back role," Klinsmann explained. "We also talked with his club coach and we are both on the same page there. He will be back in his number six or number eight role, wherever he fits best."
Jones had been used primarily as a central defender by Klinsmann in the post-World Cup friendlies, and while his range and comfort on the ball added a useful dimension, his weakness in the air and defending open field took a toll on the scoreboard against the likes of Honduras, Colombia, and Chile. His struggles on the back line were made readily apparent two weeks ago in New England's 4-2 loss to Sporting KC, in which Jones was bossed by SKC forward Dom Dwyer.
Revs head coach Jay Heaps moved Jones back to central midfield against D.C. United the following weekend, and the World Cup hero produced one of the best two-way efforts of the MLS season.
However, Jones came off in the first half of New England's game against LA on Sunday:
The US will meet the Netherlands this Friday (2 pm ET; ESPN | ESPN Deportes | WatchESPN | UniMas | UDN) in Amsterdam before heading East to face Germany in Cologne on Wednesday, June 10 (2:45 pm ET; FoxSports 1 | Fox Deportes). Both games are in preparation for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, which begins at the end of June.
