The only players on the U.S. roster who are currently with the first-string in Johannesburg are Freddy Adu, Charlie Davies, Heath Pearce and Luis Robles, and only Davies has played any Confederations Cup minutes.
Aguirre's squad, which will play Guatemala in a friendly in San Diego this evening (5 p.m., Telemundo), will play Nicaragua, Panama and Guadeloupe in the Gold Cup first round, while the U.S. will play Grenada, Honduras and Haiti.
Even with a largely MLS-based squad, the U.S. should be able to defend its title.
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grahame.jones@latimes.com
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
A star-crossed summer
This summer, North American fans will have the rare opportunity to see five of Europe's finest teams in person rather than simply on television. So goes the sales pitch.
But with AC Milan, for example, expected to play four games in eight days, reserves will be doing the heavy lifting. Or perhaps Milan can get David Beckham on loan again to help out.
In any event, here is the schedule:
*--* Date Match Location July 19 Galaxy vs AC Milan Home Depot Center, Carson July 19 Club America vs Inter Milan Stanford Stadium, Palo Alto July 21 Chelsea vs Inter Milan Rose Bowl, Pasadena July 22 AC Milan vs Club America Georgia Dome, Atlanta July 24 AC Milan vs Chelsea M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore July 26 Inter Milan vs AC Milan Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass. July 26 Chelsea vs Club America Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, Texas Aug. 1 Galaxy vs Barcelona Rose Bowl, Pasadena Aug. 7 Toronto FC vs Real Madrid BMO Field, Toronto Aug. 8 Barcelona vs Chivas de Candlestick Park, San Guadalajara Francisco Aug. 9 D.C. United vs Real Madrid FedEx Field, Landover, Md. *--*
-- Grahame L. Jones
