Landon Donovan, Omar Gonzalez called into USMNT duty

The LA Galaxy's Omar Gonzalez and Landon Donovan have been named to the United States roster for the upcoming World Cup Qualifying matches as expected. The team will begin gathering September 1st in Florida before heading to Costa Rica September 3rd. This means next week against Colorado the Galaxy will be without Donovan, Gonzalez, Keane, and Penedo who have all been called up for international duty for their respective countries.

Donovan returns to World Cup Qualifying for the first time since June 12th, 2012, a 1-1 draw in Guatemala. That's an absence spanning ten matches. Since then, Omar Gonzalez has earned a spot at the starting centre back position, one of only four players to start all six games of the Hexagonal. Donovan and Gonzalez are also part of eleven players who participated in the Gold Cup victory and have been called into WCQ.

"The Costa Rica game in San Jose is the biggest game in 2013 for all of us because we want to win there," said Klinsmann. "We want to qualify as soon as possible for the World Cup in Brazil. We want to get the first ever three points in World Cup qualifying in Costa Rica. Everyone needs to understand there will be a lot of tension. We need to be very well prepared mentally and physically and give them a real game. And if you look at the quality of our roster and our players, we have the quality to get the three points."

Costa Rica are right behind the US in points, only two points separate the two nations. A victory in San Jose would bring the US to 16 points with nine points left available. After Costa Rica the US come back to Columbus, Ohio to take on Mexico. The US would clinch a World Cup berth with four points from this September swing. There's even a small chance they could secure a berth on the 6th with a win, a Mexico-Honduras draw, and a Jamaican win/draw in Panama.

The full USMNT roster is as follows:

GK - Guzan, Howard, Rimando;

Defenders - Beasley, Besler, Brooks, Cameron, Castillo, Evans, Gonzalez, Orozco

Midfielders - Beckerman, Bedoya, Bradley, Diskerud, F. Johnson, Jones, Zusi;

Forwards - Altidore, Dempsey, Donovan, Johannsson, E. Johnson