From US Soccer

As the MNT approaches its final set of matches in the Semifinal Round of 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifying, the message is pretty clear: There’s all to play for when it comes to getting the USA to CONCACAF’s Final Round of World Cup Qualifying, better known as “The Hex”.

In naming his roster for the Sept. 2 match at St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the Sept. 6 home game against Trinidad & Tobago [TICKETS], MNT head coach Jurgen Klinsmann is leaning heavily on players that took part in Copa America Centenario to get the qualifying job done, with 20 of the 27-man roster having helped the U.S. to a fourth-place finish at the tournament in June.

“We definitely think that the group that got fourth in the Copa America deserves a certain priority going on to the next World Cup qualifiers because they did tremendously well in the Copa America,” Klinsmann told ussoccer.com. “It was an exciting tournament with great games. The whole group learned a lot, playing teams like Colombia, Ecuador and Argentina. This is a big stage, and they deserve to come back and confirm what they did in the tournament in these upcoming, very important World Cup qualifiers. We are preparing for these two games very seriously, with a lot of urgency because we want to finish off our group in first place if possible, and this group of players gets the chance to do that.”

With the top two teams in each of CONCACAF’s three Semifinal Round World Cup Qualifying groups advancing to “The Hex”, the U.S., who sits in second place in Group C, is well-placed to move through to the final round which kicks off in November. Simply put, a win by the MNT at St. Vincent on Friday afternoon (3:30 p.m. ET – beIN Sports) would point all eyes to Trinidad’s home match against Guatemala later that night. A victory by the Soca Warriors would give both T&T and the United States safe passage to “The Hex” and make next Tuesday’s clash in Jacksonville a battle for first place in the group.

A draw or Guatemala win in Port of Spain on Friday would make things much tighter, with all three teams playing for two spots in the final round next Tuesday.

With the different scenarios and the suspensions of midfielder Michael Bradley and defender Michael Orozco for Friday’s match at St. Vincent in mind, Klinsmann elected to bring a larger-than-normal group for this camp.
“Bringing in a little bit of a bigger group gives us opportunity, depending on what happens in the first game and also paralleled in the Trinidad & Tobago against Guatemala game, that we might be able to change certain things for the second game, but the priority is the group that played in Copa America,” he said.”

“They need to get the job done in St. Vincent, and then see how we can modify little things. It also gives us a chance during a couple of days to work with a couple extra guys – younger guys – that we’ve had an eye on since quite a while, like Caleb Stanko or Rubio Rubin. They are players that are knocking at the door and are doing well in their club environment, so that’s nice to see them. Then we have the situation with the suspended players – Michael Bradley and Michael Orozco – and they are not eligible for the first game. Jermaine Jones is still struggling with his knee injury, so we will take it one day at a time with him. So having a couple extra guys is a good thing. We are going to go with only 23 players down to St. Vincent, so a few will stay behind. Hopefully we get the job done down there and then we can adjust for the second game.”

The U.S. plays the return fixture against a St. Vincent side that it easily dispatched with a 6-1 win last November in St. Louis and while Vincy Heat have lost all four matches in the semifinal round so far, the MNT is all too familiar with the rigors of World Cup Qualifying matches in the Caribbean.

For more on this story go to: http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2016/08/28/16/47/160828-mnt-klinsmann-leaning-on-copa-america-tested-roster-to-complete-semifinal-round-qualifying