U.S. could field all-foreign team at 2010 World Cup

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If the Galaxy’s Landon Donovan can land a job at Bayern Munich, as he is desperately trying to do, and if Chivas USA’s Sacha Kljestan can do the same at Celtic, as he is close to doing, the magic number would be three.

If three more key players -- say Jonathan Bornstein (pictured above), Brian Ching and Marvell Wynne -- head for Europe or Mexico, then Major League Soccer would be able to plan its 2010 schedule without worrying about its rosters being decimated during that year’s World Cup in South Africa.

That’s how close U.S. Coach Bob Bradley is to being able to field a World Cup team drawn entirely from overseas-based players, one that would be representative, competitive and cause little or no argument. Or would it?

Assuming Bradley, whose U.S. squad plays Sweden in Carson on Saturday (5:30, Fox Soccer Channel and Galavision), selects three goalkeepers, eight defenders, eight midfielders and four forwards, as predecessor and current Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena did in 2006, here’s what the American lineup could look like:

Goalkeepers

Tim Howard (Everton/England)
Brad Guzan (Aston Villa/England)
Troy Perkins (Valerenga/Norway)

Defenders

Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96/Germany)
Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege/Belgium)
Carlos Bocanegra (Stade Rennais/France)
Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock/Germany)
Jonathan Spector (West Ham United/England)
Michael Orozco (San Luis/Mexico)
Michael Parkhurst Nordsjaelland/Denmark)
Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC)

Midfielders

Freddy Adu (AS Monaco/France)
Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach/Germany)
Maurice Edu (Rangers/Scotland)
DaMarcus Beasley (Rangers/Scotland)
Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA)
Jose Francisco Torres (Pachuca/Mexico)
Landon Donovan (Galaxy)
Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA)

Forwards

Clint Dempsey (Fulham/England)
Jozy Altidore (Villarreal/Spain)
Charlie Davies (Hammarby/Sweden)
Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo)

Would a combative Ricardo Clark be better than a creative Torres? Is Kenny Cooper a more deserving choice than Davies? How about Kyle Beckerman or Robbie Rogers? Any others?

All arguments are welcome here via e-mail to grahame.jones@latimes.com, but one fact is irrefutable: the U.S. national team is pretty much already based outside the U.S., no matter who plays at the Home Depot Center on Saturday.

-- Grahame L. Jones