Jürgen Klinsmann has found himself under a little pressure this last month or so, since the Gold Cup disappointment, and hardly helped himself with some remarks that sounded a little condescending (because they were a little condescending) about some USA fans not understanding the nuances of what they were seeing when the USA lost 2-1 to Jamaica in the Gold Cup semis.  What said fans were expected to make of “50 Shades of 2-1 defeat” I’m not sure, but it seemed to fit in with the rather tricky pattern of Klinsmann’s reign, where the “benchmarking” of his own performance is constantly deferred because of the bigger picture. Now he faces an elimination game against Mexico for the Confederations Cup spot in Russia in 2017, which in the context of Klinsmann’s preferred preparations for the World Cup (giving his side competitive experience in the host nation), along with the regional bragging rights, and general sense of failure about the Gold Cup campaign, has suddenly become a much bigger game than he’d like to be focused on right now.  Certainly Klinsmann would rather be wearing his technical director’s hat right now and turning his attention to the Olympic qualifying campaign that forms another branch of his ideal preparations for 2018, instead of thinking about banana skins for the first team, but it’s the nature of his dual job description that he’s going to sometimes find himself fighting on multiple fronts.  Speaking of which, there’s been an interesting set of selections on the immediate home front as Klinsmann juggles his MLS players through this international window. Clint Dempsey has been left with Seattle to fully recover from injury in time to face Mexico; Bradley of course has come into the squad after playing for Toronto at the weekend, while his team mate Jozy Altidore played for the national team as captain; and Matt Besler, whose personal stock had fallen in the wake of the World Cup, did his reputation no harm with a cameo against Peru, but now returns to Sporting Kansas City to play a midweek game for them.  There may be some scrutiny on Besler’s erstwhile defensive partner Omar Gonzalez — another defender whose personal stick took a tumble after the World Cup, and who had a patchy half of football against Peru — bearing a lot of the blame for failing to step up on the Peruvian goal. He can expect an even tougher time if he sees the field tonight.  GOALKEEPERS (3) : Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire)  DEFENDERS (8) : Ventura Alvarado (Club America), John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Greg Garza (Atlas), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Michael Orozco (Club Tijuana), Tim Ream (Fulham), Jonathan Spector (Birmingham City)  MIDFIELDERS (8) : Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Joe Corona (Veracruz), Mix Diskerud (New York City FC), Jermaine Jones (New England Revolution), Alfredo Morales (FC Ingolstadt), Danny Williams (Reading), DeAndre Yedlin (Sunderland)  FORWARDS (6) : Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC), Aron Johannsson (Werder Bremen), Bobby Wood (Union Berlin), Jordan Morris (Stanford), Andrew Wooten (SV Sandhausen), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy)
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