USA Looking to Continue Soccer Success in Gold Cup

On Sunday, we all saw the U.S. Women's National Team take home the World Cup trophy, and now the men's squad is getting ready to make some noise in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has taken a program that was one of the laughing stocks of international soccer to one of the most improved and respected in the world. Development of U.S. soccer has increased even in the short two years that Klinsmann has been in control, and after an impressive run in last year's World Cup, they will look to defend their Gold Cup title.

As for the roster that Klinsmann decided to take, one thing that may strike some as odd is that there are four strikers on the squad, including the aging Chris Wondolowski. The 32-year-old forward doesn't quite have the pace that he had seven years ago, but he does have a knack of scoring timely goals not on the World Cup stage, so maybe that decision will pan out, especially considering Klinsmann chose him over young guns Bobby Wood and Julian Green. However, with the presence of veterans like Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore, the Americans will hold their own up top.

In the midfield, you'll find some commonplace names such as Michael Bradley, Mix Deskerud, Kyle Beckerman, and Graham Zusi, but two names that haven't been associated with the U.S. midfield lately are DeAndre Yedlin and Gyasi Zardes. Yedlin has played as an outside defensive back for most of his professional career, but with his pace and playmaking abilities, it only makes sense for Klinsmann to move him up to the midfield. As for Zardes, he has been one of the most dynamic goal scorers in Major League Soccer over the past few years. The 23-year-old will be looking to make his first cap for the national team this Gold Cup.

At defense, we see many of the same names as usual, but lacking Matt Besler. Omar Gonzalez, Timmy Chandler, John Brooks, and Fabian Johnson are all players who saw significant playing time in the 2014 World Cup, so they will look to use their experience to hold a strong back line in the Gold Cup. One of the new guys on the national team, Ventura Alvarado, made his first international cap on March 25 earlier this year against Denmark. Alvarado is a solid defender and will definitely add some much needed depth to the Americans' defense.

In goal, we'll start with Brad Guzan, but should he happen upon an unfortunate injury, Nick Rimando will most likely be his primary backup. Guzan is now the main man for the USA, especially with the hiatus from former goalkeeper Tim Howard, who helped lead them to the round of 16 in the 2014 World Cup. For all intents and purposes, should Guzan produce anywhere near the level of Howard, the USA will perform just fine.

They will do battle with Honduras at 8:30 tonight, and will finish their group stage matches against Haiti and Panama on July 10 and July 13, respectively.