The United States has named their lineup for Wednesday's friendly against Ukraine, and the biggest thing to watch will be the back line, and more specifically the central defenders. Three of the players picked in defense — Edgar Castillo, Oguchi Onyewu and John Brooks — are very much on the fringes of the World Cup squad. They'll need to put in good performances to convince Jurgen Klinsmann they're worthy of the 30-man preliminary World Cup squad and a chance to make the final roster in friendlies.
Ukraine vs. USA: Lineups
The United States are giving a pair of fringe central defenders every chance to win their way onto the 30-man World Cup squad against Ukraine.
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Right winger Alejandro Bedoya and midfielder Sacha Kljestan are in similar situations. They've gotten plenty of opportunities under Klinsmann, but have not always been in his squads for competitive matches. While 30-man squad call-ups are highly likely for both, neither is a lock for the final team.
Ukraine’s lineup is heavy on players from Dynamo Kiev who each have four players represented in the starting XI. There are also three each from Dnipro and Shakhtar Donetsk. The only starter who plays his club football outside the country is Zenit’s Anatoliy Tymoshchuk.
United States (4-2-3-1): Tim Howard; Edgar Castillo, John Brooks, Oguchi Onyewu, Geoff Cameron; Jermaine Jones, Sacha Kljestan; Fabian Johnson, Clint Dempsey, Alejandro Bedoya; Jozy Altidore
Ukraine (4-2-3-1): Andriy Pyatov; Artem Fedetskyi, Oleksandr Kucher, Vyacheslav Shevchuk, Yevhen Khacheridi; Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, Ruslan Rotan; Andriy Yarmolenko, Denis Garmash, Yevhen Konoplyanka; Roman Zozulya
Ukraine’s lineup changed from the initially reported lineup and this post has been edited to reflect the change.
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