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The United States has to give FIFA its 30-man preliminary roster for the World Cup by May 13, but Jurgen Klinsmann doesn't need that much time. He basically has his team set.
''If it was tomorrow, I'd give you the 30 names,'' Klinsmann said on the U.S. Soccer site. ''But, obviously, we want to see a couple of more things over the next couple weeks. But we are close, very close to have a really clear idea about those 30 guys.''
Klinsmann also said that at this point, no one could play himself off the preliminary roster, which makes sense because in the past he has said that players will be chosen based on their play over the last 2.5 years. If that's the case, the next three weeks killing a player's chances is a bit crazy.
What the next few weeks will likely come down to is a player or two putting together an incredible showing that gets him onto the roster. That would mean maybe a 28th or 29th player making the trip to training camp, as opposed to a hot player or a player Klinsmann is on the fence about taking another player's place.
Klinsmann doesn't like to give anything away before he has to. He releases match rosters as late as possible and has said that he will do the same for the World Cup, insisting that there is no point of giving the opposition any extra time to prepare. That may hold true even for the World Cup preliminary roster, with him waiting until the 13th to release the team.
The U.S. will begin World Cup training camp on May 14, a day after rosters are due, and they will have to cut the team to 23 players by June 2. Klinsmann has said all along that he would take more than 23 players to training camp, with 26-28 most peoples' guesses to how many players will be in Palo Alto, CA for the two weeks of camp. As for when he makes cuts, whether everyone in camp makes it until June 2 or he trims the roster as camp goes on, Klinsmann has yet to say how he will handle that.
