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SAO PAULO - Landon Donovan says the United States will head to the World Cup with its most experienced group of players, giving the Americans a "real chance" to do well at this years tournament. As the U.S. finishes a week-and-a-half training camp in the host country, Donovan said American players have enough confidence and experience to confront more traditional World Cup teams heading into a first round that includes matches against Germany, Portugal and Ghana. "I think the experience that we have now far exceeds the experience that we ever had with any team, and that lines up to give us a real chance," Donovan said Thursday. "We are confident in how we play. We are confident in what we do. Our guys have had enough experiences against all of these players, against teams like Ghana, Portugal, Germany. ... We feel confident that we can get results against them, and thats a nice feeling going into a World Cup." The U.S. opens against Ghana on June 16, plays Cristiano Ronaldos Portugal six days later and closes the group stage against Germany on June 26. The Americans will be playing in their seventh straight World Cup, and Donovan is heading to his fourth. "Theres never been competition for places like there is in our team now," the midfielder said during a news conference. "You can really make a case for probably 35 or 40 guys to be a part of a 23-man roster, and thats never been the case. Its really up for grabs in a lot of positions, and that in itself obviously creates competition, which makes the team better." Donovan, who turns 32 in March, said the U.S. team is more respected by opponents. "The reason its the group of death is because we are in it," he said. "In the past, it would have been a relatively easier group for Germany or Ghana or Portugal because they had us in it. But now, because we are in it, it makes it one of the most difficult groups in the tournament." Donovan said the first goal remains to reach the knockout stage of the 32-nation tournament. "Our expectations, like most teams, are to get out of the group," he said. "We are aware that we have a difficult group, but the expectation is that we can do it and we are going to try to get out of our group, just like most teams in this World Cup. That is the objective. That is the goal. But we feel good about where we are at." German coach Jurgen Klinsmann brought 26 players to this training camp get acclimated to the teams World Cup base in South Americas biggest city. The team, mostly with players from Major League Soccer, will play an exhibition against South Korea on Feb. 1 at Carson, Calif. "Weve been very lucky to have two weeks here in Sao Paulo," Donovan said. "Its been very nice to have a couple of weeks to adapt to what its going to be like this summer. When we come back we have a comfort level. We know the people, the club, the training facilities. It makes it a lot easier. You get a feeling for what its like here, and it helps a lot." Klinsmann is expected to visit the Arena da Amazonia on Friday in the jungle city of Manaus, where the U.S. will play Portugal. White Sox Jerseys 2019 . They say things like "stress is when you dont know what youre doing" and "I wasnt hired to motivate players, I was hired to coach motivated players." They ring as true now as they did when Mularkey heard them the first time playing tight end for the Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame coach 25 years ago. Chicago White Sox Shirts . -- Aaron Rodgers looked fine on the practice field Thursday. https://www.cheapwhitesox.com/. They find themselves trying to knock each other out in the Western Conference finals for the second straight year. The Blackhawks prevailed last year on their way to the Stanley Cup, and they have the early lead this time after taking the opener, 3-1. Chicago White Sox Pro Shop . The group of Slava Fetisov, Igor Larionov, Vladimir Konstantinov, Sergei Fedorov, & Slava Kozlov were a dominant force for The Wings at one point in the 90s. Wholesale White Sox Jerseys . A police inspector told The Associated Press the crane operator is not yet suspected of any wrongdoing but is considered a key witness to the accident at the Arena Corinthians.TORONTO – Dustin McGowan badly wants to succeed in whats likely his last chance to be a regular big league starting pitcher. He badly wants to erase the doubts about the health of his three times surgically-repaired right shoulder. He wants, once and for all, to eliminate the too-good-to-be-true cloud that hovers over his unlikely story. After yet another all-too-brief outing, four innings plus three batters in Wednesday nights 10-8 loss to the Orioles, McGowan admitted that hes wearing out sooner than hed like. "Maybe a little bit," said McGowan when asked if he feels fatigued. "I do seem at 60 pitches, I kind of seem to be falling backwards a little bit, I guess you could say. But I feel good, my arm feels great, its just sometimes it seems like the ball is not coming out quite right after 60, 65 pitches." Theres some positive in there with that negative. His arm, he insists, is healthy. Hes pleased with how he feels when hes pitching. Hes encouraged with his bounce back in the days after an outing. The problem, it seems, relates to a lack of stamina. "The body just feels like it runs out of steam a little bit," said McGowan. "I shouldnt be feeling that, I should be at the point where I can go 90-100, especially the way my arm feels. It feels great." Pressed further, McGowan didnt deny hes had thoughts about giving up his starters spot and returning to the bullpen. "You think about that, but right now Im planning on being a starter and Ive got to get past that hurdle sometime," he said. His unlikely return to the rotation aside, its important to put McGowans issues in context. While hed openly mused about taking one more shot at being a starter as far back as last September, and general manager Alex Anthopoulos was supportive of McGowans winter efforts to stretch out, there wasnt a realistic expectation hed be leaving the bullpen. McGowan found a home there last season, posting a 2.45 ERA in 25 appearances and showing the stuff of a late-inning, high leverage, shut down reliever. Then this year, toward the end of spring training, the Blue Jays fell just short in the pursuit of free agent right-hander Ervin Santana. There was a spot to fill behind R.A. Dickey, Drew Hutchison, Mark Buehrle and Brandon Morrow. J.A. Happ dealt with back inflammation and pancaked with four awful Grapefruit League starts, resulting in a season-starting stint on the disabled list. Marcus Stroman was inconsistent and started the year with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons. Aaron Sanchez, whose repertoire has Blue Jays personnel frothing, is working at Double-A New Hampshire and his innings are being monitored early in the season. Esmil Rogers and Todd Redmond are best suited for long relief, which left McGowan as the best option. This despite the fact he suffered through a bout with a nasty stomach virus in early March, which docked about a week off his spring training schedule and pushed back efforts to get him multiple-inning appearances. "It could be," said McGowan of whether his shorter than expected spring has caught up with him. "We sped it up a lot, usually you wouldnt increase that much that fast, but we had to and we did it. Ive just got to find a way. Theres a way, Ive just got to get it past that hurdle." Whats still unclear is how long the Blue Jays are willing to give him. Stroman is off to a fine start with the Bisons, posting a 2.18 ERA, 1.355 WHIP and 26 strikeouts against six walks in three starts. His time is coming. So is Sanchezs, eventually. Could it be sooner rather than later? A Relievers Approach The Blue Jays entered Wednesdays action a Top-100 team in relief innings pitched.dddddddddddd. Relievers have hurled 67 2/3 innings so far this season, getting on average about 10 outs per game. The bullpen is its own world, made up of pitchers who take different approaches to getting ready and staying fresh in case theyre called on to appear in games on consecutive days. Take Brett Cecil, a closer during his sophomore year at the University of Maryland in 2006. By the time he debuted in the big leagues in 2009, he was a starter. Cecil won a career-high 15 games in 2010, then had a mysterious drop in velocity on his fastball, struggled, and has since revived his career as a left-handed relief specialist. "Its just kind of an everyday thing about how I feel," said Cecil of a days preparation. "Whether Im off that day, whether Im going to throw that day; it just all depends on the night before, the two nights before, what Ive done. If I need to stretch, I stretch. If I need to lift, I go lift." Cecil is being careful early in the season after experiencing elbow pain late last year. He made a career-high 60 appearances before being shut down in mid-September. The games he could handle but as a former starter, Cecil was learning how to prepare for relief work. Hes got a better handle on the demands this season. "I wasnt sure how to police myself being a reliever so the days that I felt like throwing a flat ground, I would throw a flat ground," said Cecil. "Did I really need it? No." Cecil believes its easier on the arm to be a starter. You pitch every fifth day, working through a rest, treatment, throwing regimen in-between starts. In relief, you could pitch on back-to-back days and then sit for a number of games. There are periods of consistent work, every other day. Its unpredictable. If a reliever has a two-pitch outing, like Cecil did on Friday night in Cleveland, it counts as a days work so when he throws again on Saturday, as he did against the Indians, hes not available for Sunday. "Thats one of those things that people dont see," said Cecil. "We as bullpen guys dont get a chance to gradually warm up. Its, youve got to get on the mound and throw and youve got to get hot in a very short amount of time. It puts a lot of stress on the arm." Closer Sergio Santos didnt appear in Tuesday nights win over the Orioles but with the game tied 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth, he was warming up to pitch the ninth. Its not an appearance in Santos stats line but it is a day of work. "I had two days off plus an off day so it was technically three days off," said Santos. "It was fine for me to get off the mound and I threw maybe eight to 10 pitches. Just something to where I was sharp enough that if the inning were to end, Id be able to go out and do my job and if it didnt, then it was just a day of a little bit more than a flat ground." Santos is less concerned about a day like Tuesday in April but come July and August, the dog days of summer, relievers become more concerned with "saving their bullets." That is, throw when needed and to stay ready; just dont throw any more than whats required. Bullpen coach Bob Stanley charts pitches thrown and keeps track of each relievers throwing schedule. Guys have different warmup routines. Santos likes eight to 12 pitches off the mound before entering a game. Cecil likes 15 to 20, throwing the final five at maximum capacity. If hes rushed, hell factor in the eight pitches he gets on the game mound. "Some guys warm up with an intensity that matches almost the game and can be harder," said Santos. "Some guys take it a little lighter when theyre warming up." ' ' '