Justin Morrow has been rewarded for his consistently excellent form in a TFC jersey with a place in the Americans’ 23-man squad for the Gold Cup, but Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley are missing from the initial list.
Instead, Toronto will keep the two designated players for the duration of the group stage before they are called up for the knockout rounds. Gold Cup rules allow Bruce Arena to make up to six ‘swaps’ once his team’s Group B fixtures are wrapped up.
Arena can afford to leave two of his established stars at home given the USA could finish third in a group containing Panama, Martinique and Nicaragua and still have a chance of progressing to the knockouts.