U.S. Soccer Round Up: World Cup draw; Jermaine Jones update

FIFA has announced the 4 pools that will be used to select the groups for the upcoming World Cup. The draw will take place on Friday at noon and can be seen on ESPN2. The U.S. has been placed, along with it's CONCACAF compatriots, in a pool with the Asian/Oceanic region qualifiers. The other pools are the 8 seeded teams, UEFA and a pool consisting of CONMEBOL and Africa.

When looking over the breakdown of the teams it becomes very clear that there are going to be 2 and possibly 3 really impressive groups. We'll obviously know more on Friday but if you want to read about the United States position heading into the draw, follow this link.

As far as the players who we might be seeing on the field in South Africa next summer, American soccer fans continue to get good news on the injury front. Charlie Davies and Oguchi Onyewu are both well ahead of schedule in their rehabilitation and now news has come out of Germany that Jermaine Jones has returned to practice with his club team Schalke 04. Jones was expected to return after the winter break but could possibly see some action in one of Schalke's three games that they have prior to the break. Jones, of course, has yet to play for the United States but will be a part of the team if healthy and his return to action has to have Bob Bradley smiling.