Jurgen Klinsmann and his boys in red, white, and blue are trotting around Europe in a two match friendly series against Holland and Germany. After being given free reign over who Klinsmann could choose for the 22-man roster, he decided to go with youth and uncapped players to give them vital first team experience that they could otherwise not get with their college or professional clubs.
“You can only go to another level, when you play someone on another level”, explained America’s German born coach. The Netherlands and Germany are of the elite teams in world football and have proved this on the Brazilian stage in the 2014 World Cup. From Klinsmann’s appointment in 2011, he has gone on to a 3-3-2 record when facing teams ranked 10th or higher in the FIFA world table.
Walking away from the Amsterdam ArenA with a thrilling 4-3 win put every American supporter on the edge of their seat when the Yanks managed to come back from a 3-1 deficit. This was not just a blow-off game for the Dutch either. With a new manager taking over for Louis Van Gaal and European qualifiers every month, these friendlies are the best way to discover what formations and players they will use in the UEFA competition.
Klinsmann and his squad are sure to be celebrating this impressive win in Amsterdam, but their focus will quickly shift to the Germans when they play in Cologne on June 10th. The two managers are very well acquainted with each other after being partners on the 2006 German World Cup team, but friendship aside, both sides will give all they have in order to win.
The 20-man German squad that Jogi Low will bring to the Rhein Energie Stadium is filled with many players who helped lift the World Cup trophy in 2014, but some notable players have been left out including Manuel Neuer, Thomas Muller, and Toni Kroos.
With the CONCACAF Gold Cup beginning later in the summer, the two matches in Europe will allow Klinsmann to decide who is best fit for the competition when facing the toughest competition in the world. The last time these two sides faced each other was during the group stages in Brazil when Germany walked away with a 1-0 win. It will be a tough match just like it was during the World Cup for the Yanks, but coming away from such a high in the Netherlands, the Germans will face a very different style of play from America that they experienced in Brazil
The match will kick off on June 10th at 2:45 PM ET. Tune in to support the great mix of youth and experience on the USMNT.
German squad:
GK: Roman Weidenfeller, Ron-Robert Zieler,
DEF: Jerome Boateng, Erik Durm, Jonas Hector, Mats Hummels, Shkodran Mustafi, Antonio Rudiger,
MID: Sebastian Ruddy, Karim Bellarabi, Ilkay Gundogan, Sami Khedira, Cristoph Kramer, Mesut Ozil, Lukas Podolski, Andre Schurrle, Bastian Schweinsteiger,
FWD: Mario Gotze, Max Kruse.
United States squad:
GK: Brad Guzan, Nick Rimando, William Yarbrough
DEF: Ventura Alvarado, John Brooks, Timmy Chandler, Brad Evans, Michael Orozco, Brek Shea, DeAndre Yedlin
MID: Kyle Beckerman, Michael Bradley, Mix Diskerud, Miguel Ibarra, Fabian Johnson, Alfredo Morales, Danny Williams
FWD: Juan Agudelo, Aron Johannsson, Bobby Wood, Gyasi Zardes
