By Jack Venezia

On Sunday night US Men’s National Team Head Coach Jurgen Klinsmann named 40 players to his provisional roster for the Copa America this summer. Copa America will be hosted in the United States. High level international teams such as Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina will be playing in Copa America along with the US. This summer will be the halfway point between the 2014 and 2018 World Cups, making this Copa America competition a benchmark for the USMNT’s progress (or lack thereof).

Here is the roster:

GOALKEEPERS (5): David Bingham (San Jose Earthquakes), Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Ethan Horvath (Molde), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)

DEFENDERS (15): Kellyn Acosta (FC Dallas), Ventura Alvarado (Club America), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), Steve Birnbaum (D.C. United), John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Edgar Castillo (Monterrey), Timmy Chandler (Eintracht Frankfurt), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Omar Gonzalez (Pachuca), Eric Lichaj (Nottingham Forest), Matt Miazga (Chelsea FC), Michael Orozco (Club Tijuana), Tim Ream (Fulham), DeAndre Yedlin (Sunderland)

MIDFIELDERS (12): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Alejandro Bedoya (FC Nantes), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Mix Diskerud (New York City FC), Fabian Johnson (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Jermaine Jones (Colorado Rapids), Perry Kitchen (Heart of Midlothian), Alfredo Morales (Ingolstadt), Darlington Nagbe (Portland Timbers), Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution), Danny Williams (Reading FC), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)

FORWARDS (8): Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Ethan Finlay (Columbus Crew), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders FC), Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund),Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes), Bobby Wood (Union Berlin), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy)

Keepers
This is the exact group I expected to be selected. There was some doubt as to whether Will Yarabrough would steal a spot from the aging Nick Rimando, but that does not seem to be the case. As for the final roster, Howard and Guzan are locks, after that is anyone’s guess.

Defense
All of the selections at centerback make sense; we shall see who makes the final roster though. I am excited for the futures of Birnbaum and Miazga. At the leftback position, I take issue with bringing on Timmy Chandler and not Brek Shea. Chandler has never been consistent for the national team and Brek Shea has been killing it for Orlando since returning from injury. Plus, Brek Shea has been called up by Jurgen multiple times in the past which makes this even more baffling. Lastly, Eric Lichaj comes out of nowhere to join this roster. He has not been called up in quite some time.

Midfield
All of the regulars are here, which bodes well for the team’s chances in the tournament, i.e. no one crucial is injured or in an awful run of form. It is nice to see Perry Kitchen called up as many have been saying he should be the defensive midfield heir to Kyle Beckerman’s throne. He likely won this spot over Will Trapp, who has not been playing well with Columbus in MLS. Also interesting to see Nagbe listed among this group since these all seem to be central midfielders. Hopefully this means we will see Nagbe play in his preferred role rather than being pushed out to the wing as he has been in the past.

Forwards
It looks like Jurgen has listed the wingers (Finlay, Pulisic, and others at times) with the forwards, which leads me to believe the US will play a 4-3-3. Pulisic’s inclusion is exciting as he has been getting minutes and goals for German powerhouse Borussia Dortmund as a teenager. Jordan Morris and Bobby Wood have also been hot scorers recently. The real question is, who plays the center forward position of that 4-3-3, Jozy or Clint? Dempsey has been playing on the wing occasionally for Seattle, but with varying amounts of success.

It is worth noting that training camp starts on May 16 for the USMNT. US Soccer must submit the final 23-player roster no later than May 20. On May 22, 25 and 28 the 23-man roster will play three warm up games against Puerto Rico, Ecuador and Bolivia, respectively. Copa America opens on June 3 with the US playing Columbia.

The pressure is on for Klinsmann to find some success in this tournament. After failing to win the Gold Cup last summer and a poor run in World Cup Qualifying. This is going to be a much tougher test, but the US should come away with a couple positive results.