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Posted at 8:16 a.m., Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Soccer: Donovan headlines U.S. roster against Sweden

Associated Press

CHICAGO — Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley and Clint Dempsey head a relatively full-strength roster picked by the United States for next week's exhibition game at Sweden.

Forward Josh Wolff, midfielder Bobby Convey, defender Steve Cherundolo and backup goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann return from injury layoffs to rejoin the Americans, whose Aug. 22 game in Goteborg will be their first in Europe since Bob Bradley took over as coach from Bruce Arena in December.

Wolff (groin) and Hahnemann (back) have not been with the U.S. team since last year's World Cup, and Convey (knee) last played for the national team in February. Cherundolo missed the CONCACAF Gold Cup because of a back injury.

Sixteen of the 19 players on the roster are based in Europe, with Donovan, midfielder Pablo Mastroeni and defender Jonathan Bornstein coming from Major League Soccer.

The U.S. team is 10-3-1 under Bradley, going 10-0-1 at home and 0-3 at the Copa America. The Americans are looking to avoid their first four-game losing streak since January 1997 defeats against Peru, Mexico, Denmark and China.

After playing Sweden, the U.S. team faces South American champion Brazil (Sept. 9 at Chicago), then returns to Europe to play Catalonia (Oct. 14 in Barcelona, Spain) and Switzerland (Oct. 17 in Basel). There also are plans for a Nov. 17 exhibition game at South Africa.

The roster:

Goalkeepers: Marcus Hahnemann (Reading, England), Tim Howard (Everton)

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham, England), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, Germany), Jay DeMerit (Watford, England), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege, Belgium), Jonathan Spector (West Ham, England)

Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Michael Bradley (Heerenveen, Netherlands), Bobby Convey (Reading, England), Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England), Benny Feilhaber (Derby, England), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado)

Forwards: Landon Donovan (Los Angeles), Charlie Davies (Hammarby, Sweden), Kamani Hill (Wolfsburg, Germany), Josh Wolff (1860 Munich, Germany), Sal Zizzo (Hannover, Germany)