USA hosts Serbia in Bruce Arena's returns to sidelines

By Sports Illustrated and SI.com Staff/Sports Illustrated via Planet Futbol
Published

Bruce Arena makes his return to the U.S. men's national team sidelines in his first match as Jurgen Klinsmann's successor, as the U.S. hosts Serbia in a friendly at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium (4 p.m., ESPN2, UniMas).

The U.S. has this match and another next Friday against Jamaica that serve as the final tune-ups before crucial World Cup qualifiers against Honduras and Panama in March, and with European-based players unavailable with the January camp taking place outside of a FIFA international fixture window, Arena is on the search for players who can help him accrue the points necessary to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. 

Another landmark on Sunday involves Jozy Altidore, who is poised to join the 100-cap club and become the 17th player in U.S. men's history to hit the landmark. 

As for Serbia, the European side is fielding a second-choice squad, with regulars not released for the match given its timing on the international calendar.

Stay tuned here for lineups and highlights of goals and key moments throughout the match.

Here are the full squads for both teams:

USA

GOALKEEPERS: David Bingham (San Jose Earthquakes), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake), Luis Robles (New York Red Bulls)

DEFENDERS: DaMarcus Beasley (Unattached),Steve Birnbaum (D.C. United), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Greg Garza (Atlanta United FC), Chad Marshall (Seattle Sounders FC), Jorge Villafaña (Santos Laguna) Walker Zimmerman (FC Dallas), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)

MIDFIELDERS: Alejandro Bedoya (Philadelphia Union), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Benny Feilhaber (Sporting Kansas City), Jermaine Jones (LA Galaxy), Sacha Kljestan (New York Red Bulls), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy), Dax McCarty (Chicago Fire), Darlington Nagbe (Portland Timbers), Chris Pontius (Philadelphia Union)

FORWARDS: Juan Agudelo (New England Revolution), Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders FC)

SERBIA

GOALKEEPERS: Ognjen Cancarevic (Radnik Surdulica), Filip Manojlovic (Crvena Zvezda)

DEFENDERS: Nemanja Calasan (Spartak Subotica), Nikola Cirkovic (Vozdovac), Marko Klisura (Backa Panaka), Vladimir Kovacevic (Vojvodina), Nikola Maras (Rad), Nemanja Miletic (Partizan)

MIDFIELDERS: Enver Alivodic (Novi Pazar), Jovan Djokic (Atyrau), Marko Gobeljic (Napredak Krusevac), Marko Javtovic (Partizan), Stefan Panic (Metalac), Srdjan Plavsic (Crvena Zvezda)

FORWARDS: Lazar Jovanovic (Borac Cacak), Sasa Jovanovic (Mladost Lucani), Marko Mrkic (Radnicki Nis), Aleksandar Palocevic (Vojvodina)