Brad Guzan will be the United States starting goalkeeper at the Copa America Centenario, coach Jurgen Klinsmann announced on Sunday (AEST), with veteran Tim Howard serving as the back-up.

The veterans have split matches since Howard returned to the national team from a year-long sabbatical in September, but Klinsmann has now seen enough to decide that Guzan will be his first choice when the US opens the Copa America against Colombia on 4 June in Santa Clara, California.

"We will go with Brad Guzan as the No.1 in the Copa America," Klinsmann said. "That's our decision that we made."

Each goalkeeper has started a pair of FIFA World Cup qualifiers since the semi-final stage in CONCACAF kicked off in November, with Guzan playing the home games and Howard getting the nod on the road.

Guzan, who was named the top goalkeeper at last summer's CONCACAF Gold Cup in Howard's absence, also started the FIFA Confederations Cup play-off loss to Mexico in October.

Neither player is coming off a particularly good season in the Premier League. Howard only started three of Everton's final 20 matches in all competitions after losing his starting job to Joel Robles, with the 37-year-old set to link up with Colorado Rapids after the Copa America.

Guzan, meanwhile, was in goal for just 11 of Aston Villa's last 23 matches of the season as his side was relegated to the Championship.

"We had good talks with both goalkeepers," said Klinsmann, who chose 20-year-old Ethan Horvath as the third-stringer. "Tim Howard is there to support Brad 24/7, but it's important that both goalkeepers know what is the ranking as of today."

Klinsmann also discussed one of the more surprising inclusions on the 23-man roster US Soccer unveiled, revealing that San Jose Earthquakes veteran Chris Wondolowski narrowly earned a nod over Seattle Sounders rookie Jordan Morris.

Wondolowski, 33, has seven goals in 11 matches to kick off the MLS campaign while the 21-year-old Morris recently set a rookie record by scoring in four straight games.

"There are always some 50-50 moments," Klinsmann said. "It came a little bit down to Wondo or Jordan. We decided at this moment to go with Wondo. He's in top form, he's scoring a lot of goals for the Earthquakes. But obviously when you take certain players, you have to leave other ones out."