Clint Dempsey, the captain of last year's World Cup team and U.S. soccer's active leader in goals and starts, was left off Juergen Klinsmann's 23-man roster for this month's World Cup qualifiers with St. Vincent & the Grenadines and Trinidad & Tobago.
"At this point in time, I want to give the younger strikers a chance to prove themselves, and this is a good stage to do it," Klinsmann said. "I communicated with Clint about it and it’s all fine."
Dempsey, 32, is a veteran of three World Cups. Among the forwards chosen in his absence are the Galaxy's Gyasi Zardes and Alan Gordon.