Houston's Brian Ching will become the first player from Hawaii to play in the World Cup. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=366677&cc=5901 BRISTOL, Conn. -- U.S. national team manager Bruce Arena named the U.S. World Cup roster Tuesday live on "SportsCenter." Thomas Shea/WireImage Houston's Brian Ching will become the first player from Hawaii to play in the World Cup. The roster is headed by national team stalwarts Kasey Keller and Claudio Reyna. Both were named to their fourth FIFA World Cup roster. The roster comprises 12 players that are based overseas, with the remaining 11 currently playing in MLS. Of the players named to the roster, only four have never played in MLS (Steve Cherundolo, Keller, Oguchi Onyewu and Reyna). The biggest gamble by Arena appears to be in his selection of Chivas USA midfielder John O'Brien. O'Brien made the team despite a rash of injuries since his standout performance in the 2002 World Cup. On his return to MLS, O'Brien has yet to play regularly for Chivas USA after rehabilitating a groin injury and recently sustained a strained left calf. U.S. World Cup Roster 2006 Goalkeepers Marcus Hahnemann Tim Howard Kasey Keller Defenders Carlos Bocanegra Steve Cherundolo Jimmy Conrad Cory Gibbs Frankie Hejduk Eddie Lewis Oguchi Onyewu Eddie Pope Midfielders DaMarcus Beasley Bobby Convey Clint Dempsey Landon Donovan Pablo Mastroeni John O'Brien Ben Olsen Claudio Reyna Forwards Brian Ching Eddie Johnson Brian McBride Josh Wolff The U.S. men's national team's three-game Send-Off Series prior to the 2006 FIFA World Cup will begin at The Coliseum in Nashville, Tenn., on May 23, before continuing to Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland on May 26, and concluding at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn., on May 28. The three U.S. opponents will be Morocco, Venezuela and Latvia, respectively, with all three matches kicking off at 7 p.m. ET live on ESPN2 and ussoccer.com's MatchTracker. The U.S. team was drawn into Group E for the 2006 FIFA World Cup along with the Czech Republic, Italy and Ghana. The United States plays its opening match against the Czechs on June 12 in Gelsenkirchen before meeting Italy in Kaiserslautern on June 17, then finishing group play against Ghana on June 22 in Nuremberg. The alternates for the U.S. roster were also named as follows: Goalkeeper: Tony Meola, Matt Reis Defenders: Chris Albright, Gregg Berhalter, Todd Dunivant Midfielders: Chris Armas, Chris Klein, Pat Noonan, Steve Ralston, Kerry Zavagnin Forwards: Conor Casey, Chris Rolfe, Taylor Twellman
This is great news for Ching. This weekends game against Dallas will be his last for Huoston until after the World Cup, hopefully there'll be a big crowd to send him off in style.
