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Michael Bradley's position with U.S. still in flux, Jurgen Klinsmann says

Jurgen Klinsmann says he prefers Michael Bradley to play in the center of midfield -- neither too far forward or back -- as questions over the positioning of one of the United States' top players continues.

Bradley played as an attacking midfielder at the World Cup last year, and Klinsmann has said he likes him to push toward the goal when necessary.

The Toronto FC star returned to his holding midfield spot of old against Chile last week, but Klinsmann said on Friday that Bradley's role is still in flux.

"We see [Bradley] in that half position, ideally, like he played [against] Mexico last April," Klinsmann said as the U.S. prepares to host Panama in a friendly on Sunday (4 p.m. ET, ESPN/WatchESPN).

"I think this is really a role where he can connect with the forwards, [where he] can play those penetrating passes -- those 'killer balls,' as we call it -- and maybe even finish himself.

"We don't want to see him come back and pick up the ball from the center-backs. We want the center-backs to open up the game and stuff like that, but we're working on that.

"It depends a lot also who's next to him. Is it more a defensive-minded player, is it more a passing player, is it more of an offensive-minded one. There's a lot of pieces to the puzzle."

Klinsmann said he couldn't decide on where Bradley is best suited to play until the full U.S. squad is available during the next FIFA international dates in March, when the U.S. will play friendlies against Denmark and Switzerland.

"[My] preference comes through once we have the entire roster together," Klinsmann said. "As soon as we go into the March games, that's when the European [based players] come in and the Mexican [league players] come in, and suddenly the whole picture changes, and then we will work on the final pieces.

"Obviously, we're not putting pieces kind of in stone, you know, 'It has to be this way or that way. It depends always on what other players do we have in camp, how do we put a whole team together."

The U.S. have only won one of its past nine games going back to the World Cup, and Klinsmann said he expects another stiff test from Panama.

"They have a very competitive group here and they obviously -- probably -- have a little bit still in their stomach to forget this day that really was a disaster for them," Klinsmann said. "It will be a good test for us at this very early stage of our season."

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