USMNT Preliminary Gold Cup Roster Revealed

The USMNT will, finally, be playing in Portland this July. It's not the World Cup Qualifier that we all hoped it would be, but it's certainly better than nothing. For far too long US Soccer ignored what was happening in the Pacific Northwest, instead opting to play in front of crowds in places like Tennessee. But up until now, the exact players involved in the Gold Cup remained largely a mystery.

As expected, the Gold Cup roster is certainly not the star studded roster that is headlining in the World Cup Qualifying matches. However, it's certainly not entirely made up of second stringers either. There are certainly some exciting players here who will no doubt be using the 2013 Gold Cup as a tournament to make their case for the 2014 World Cup.

Here's the preliminary roster:

GOALKEEPERS: Tally Hall (Houston Dynamo), Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)

DEFENDERS: Corey Ashe (Houston Dynamo), DaMarcus Beasley (Pachuca), Tony Beltran (Real Salt LAke), Matt Besler (Sporting Kanasas City), Carlos Bocanegra (Racing Santander), Edgar Castillo (Tijuana), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Oguchi Onyewu (Malaga), Michael Orozco-Fiscal (Puebla), Michael Parkhurst (Augsburg)

MIDFIELDERS: Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Alejandro Bedoya (Helsingborgs), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Joe Corona (Tijuana), Mikkel Diskerud (Rosenborg), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders), Benny Feilhaber (Sporting Kansas City), Josh Gatt (Molde), (Stuart Holden (Bolton Wanderers), Brek Shea (Stoke City), Jose Francisco Torres (Tigres), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)

FORWARDS: Will Bruin (Houston Dynamo), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Herculez Gomez (Santos Laguna), Alan Gordon (San Jose Earthquakes), Eddie Johnson (Seattle Sounders), Jack McInerney (Philadelphia Union), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes), Bobby Wood (1860 Munich)

Some notable players include:

• Landon Donovan - The LA Galaxy midfielder and stalwart USMNT player is slowly getting back into form.
• Carlos Bocanegra - Left off the World Cup Qualifying roster due to lack of playing time, the former USMNT captain will be getting a second chance.
• Oguchi Onyewu - At one time considered the future of the USMNT central defense, Gooch will certainly be making his case again.
• Mix Diskerud - The almost-Timbers player is young, but certainly still very exciting in the midfield.

Of course, there is no Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey, Jermaine Jones, or other USMNT mainstays. But that's fine. This year's Gold Cup is all about preparing for the upcoming World Cup.

Still no Portland Timbers player involved with the USMNT though...

What do you think about the preliminary roster? Who is most exciting? Who goes to the 2013 Gold Cup?

P.S. Apologies that this news is a few days old.