A largely nascent group of United States men’s national team players will look to keep history in tact on Friday when Canada visits California for a friendly between CONCACAF foes.
The 10:15 p.m. ET kickoff will see Canada aiming to beat the United States for the first time in 17 tries. The USMNT holds a 13W-8L-11D record against Canada, including an 8W-8D record, dating back to a friendly loss in 1985.
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Unbeaten in six, Canada will be playing its first game since November, and it’s only warm-up for the next batch of World Cup qualifiers in March. Les Rouges will enter that home-and-home with Mexico trailing El Tri by two points in CONCACAF qualifying’s Group A.
Much like their neighbors to the south, Canada is led by a mix of veterans and youth. There’s 85-times capped Julian de Guzman and six other players with more than 30 caps. Toronto FC star Cyle Larin is joined by FC Dallas’ Tesho Akindele and SpVgg Unterhaching in the striker corps.
The U.S. used a mixture of veterans and U-23 players to beat a similarly-stocked Iceland side 3-2 on Sunday at the same venue, the Stubhub Center in Carson.
Though Lee Nguyen played far from a starring role in the Iceland win, USMNT head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has praised the camp of New England Revolution playmaker.
The Yanks have 24 men left in camp after Brad Evans and Michael Orozco returned to their club teams:
U.S. Roster by Position
Goalkeepers: David Bingham (San Jose Earthquakes), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Luis Robles (New York Red Bulls)
Defenders: Kellyn Acosta (FC Dallas), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), Steve Birnbaum (D.C. United), Eric Miller (Montreal Impact), Tim Parker (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Matt Polster (Chicago Fire), Brandon Vincent (Chicago Fire)
Midfielders: Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Mix Diskerud (New York City FC), Jermaine Jones (Unattached), Perry Kitchen (Unattached), Darlington Nagbe (Portland Timbers), Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution), Tony Tchani (Columbus Crew SC), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew SC)
Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC), Ethan Finlay (Columbus Crew SC), Jerome Kiesewetter (VfB Stuttgart), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders FC), Khiry Shelton (New York City FC), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy)