Tim Howard and DaMarcus Beasley picked in USA squad for Brazil test

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/aug/20/tim-howard-damarcus-beasley-brazil-peru

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Goalkeeper Tim Howard is back with the US national team.

The US Soccer Federation announced Thursday that coach Jürgen Klinsmann had called up Howard and veteran defender DaMarcus Beasley for exhibitions next month against Peru and Brazil.

Klinsmann said that for now Howard is the No 2 goalie behind Brad Guzan, who started while Howard took a year off from the national team for family reasons after the 2014 World Cup. Howard said last month he was ready to come back.

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“He knew it was not going to be easy to come back because obviously Brad Guzan established himself as the No 1 and played a very good [Gold Cup] tournament and the whole year he really did a good job,” Klinsmann told US Soccer.

“Tim has accepted for the time being to be the No 2, and then down the road there will be a fight for the number one spot like in every position. He accepted that, and we are really happy to have him back on board because of who he is and what he has done for us.”

Beasley is a four-time World Cup veteran who retired from international play last December. But the defender returned to the squad for the Gold Cup this summer, and after the tournament he and Klinsmann acknowledged he might continue to play for the US.

“We want to do well,” Klinsmann said. “We want to excite the fans and play two very good games, and at the same time we want to see the players perform. We want to see the players make statements towards the Mexico game, because that is really the biggest game of the year now after what happened at the Gold Cup. So it will be very interesting.

“We are looking forward to those two friendlies and then obviously all eyes are already on the October 10 game at the Rose Bowl. There’s a lot at stake and it’s going to be really exciting.”

The Americans meet Peru on September 4 in Washington, then host Brazil in Foxborough, Massachusetts, four days later. On October 10, they face Mexico at the Rose Bowl in a playoff to determineConcacaf’s representative at the 2017 Confederations Cup.