NEW YORK, N.Y. - Defending champion Spain and stars Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta will train in the Washington, D.C., area next week. England and Wayne Rooney arrive Sunday for a week of workouts in Miami. Ivory Coast and Didier Drogba have games in St. Louis and Texas. But instead of preparing for the World Cup against top teams and global stars, the United States arranged a sendoff series against No. 85 Azerbaijan, No. 39 Turkey and No. 44 Nigeria. Not that U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann didnt try to schedule tougher opponents. "Youre trying to find the best teams that suit you. Its not that easy anymore," he said leading to Sundays exhibition against the Turks at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey. When the U.S. contacted high-profile teams, Klinsmann said they backed off. "Has to do a little bit with our results of the last two years," he added. Since Klinsmann replaced Bob Bradley in July 2011, the U.S. beat Italy for the first time in 11 games over 78 years, defeated Mexico in Mexico for the first time in 75 years and qualified for its seventh straight World Cup. Klinsmann chose Stanford University for a two-week training camp that opened May 14, and the Americans started their prep schedule Tuesday with a 2-0 win over the Azerbaijanis — coached by Berti Vogts, a special adviser to Klinsmann. The American defence and goalkeeper Tim Howard were hardly tested, and the U.S. offence seemed to be slowed by heavy legs following a physically demanding training camp. "Now the teams start progressively getting harder," defender Omar Gonzalez said. "I think its a great three games for us, and its just an opportunity for us to shore things up, to gain a little bit of confidence." Turkey hasnt appeared at the World Cup since 2002, when the Crescent-Stars finished third after losing to eventual champion Brazil 1-0 in the semifinals, then lost to Germany in the semis of the 2008 European Championship. The Turks finished fourth in their qualifying group for this World Cup, behind the Netherlands, Romania and Hungary. Preparing for the start of 2016 European Championship qualifying, Turkey won 2-1 at Ireland last weekend on goals by Ahmet Ilhan Ozek and Tarik Camdal, then beat World Cup-bound Honduras 2-0 Thursday at Washingtons RFK Stadium when Mevlut Erdinc scored in the 70th minute and set up Caner Erkins goal on a counterattack in the 83rd. "Turkey is an unpredictable team. Its a team that has a lot of individual skills and they are good players that can make a difference in half a second," Klinsmann said. "We need games that really keep us on our toes. We need games that especially for our back line ... that challenges them not to lose focus and concentration, not even for one moment in our game. Otherwise you get punished, and that costs you badly." Four years ago, the U.S. rallied to beat the Turks 2-1 in Philadelphia, getting second-half goals from Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey in the Americans final game before they headed to the World Cup in South Africa. The Turks have been without Atletico Madrid midfielder Arda Turan, who missed last weekends Champions League final against Real Madrid because of a sore hip, but Borussia Dortmunds Nuri Sahin is on the roster. After this, the only pre-World Cup exhibition left for the Americans is on June 7 against Nigeria at Jacksonville, Florida. Thats followed by a scrimmage in Sao Paulo against Belgium on June 12. One question is whether Klinsmann changes his back four of right back Fabian Johnson, central defenders Geoff Cameron and Matt Besler and left back DaMarcus Beasley. 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Grangers name was printed by hand by a member of the public relations staff under the heading: "Updated Roster Additions," but the number on the sheet was not circled along with the other active players by the required deadline of 6:30 p.NEW YORK - Marcus Stroman and the Toronto Blue Jays will have their work cut out for them tonight when they face Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka to open a three-game series in New York. Tanaka has certainly lived up to the hype this season, going 10-1 with an American League-best 2.02 ERA. The Japanese right-hander went the distance to win his fourth straight start on Wednesday in Seattle, as he held the Mariners to a pair of runs and six hits. He also struck out 11. With 103 strikeouts and 14 walks, no pitcher ever has struck out more while walking fewer through their first 13 games. Also, hes thrown a quality start in all 13 of his outings. "If he keeps this up, hes going to have one of the greatest first years in baseball of any pitcher whos ever played this game," said Mark Teixeira. Tanaka debuted with a win over the Toronto Blue Jays back on April 4. He gave up three runs over the first two innings, but settled down and pitched five scoreless innings after that. Of course, the Jays will only be the second team to have faced him twice. Tanakas lone loss came against the Chicago Cubs, the first team that had a second look at him. "Theyre a very good lineup, whether you see them the first time, the fifth time," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of the Blue Jays. "Theyre extremely dangerous so, yeah, Im looking forward to it. My thought is hes going to do fine. I wouldnt think that he wouldnt. But obviously youre curious." Tanaka will be trying to help the Yanks bounce back after losing two of three in Oakland that culminated with a 10-5 setback on Sunday. Carlos Beltran and Brett Gardner homered, while Derek Jeter and Teixeira knocked in a run each for the Yankees, who ended a nine-game road trip 5-4. "Today was one of those games," Jeter said. "But I think for the most part weve beeen playing good as of late.ddddddddddddquot; Toronto heads into the Bronx holding a 4 1/2-game lead on both the Yankees and Baltimore Orioles atop the American League East standings, despite losses in seven of its last 10 games. The Blue Jays, though, have won two of three and split a four-game series with the Orioles over the weekend. On Sunday, Dioner Navarro finished with three hits and drove in a pair of runs, leading Toronto to a 5-2 win. Edwin Encarnacion doubled twice among his three hits and scored twice for the Jays, who received an RBI each from Melky Cabrera, Jose Bautista and Steve Tolleson in the victory. J.A. Happ (6-3) worked six-plus innings, allowing seven hits and one run while fanning six. Casey Janssen recorded the games final four outs to earn his 12th save. "Today was a big game for us," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "We came to life a little bit and Happ was outstanding. He really was. He gave us what we needed, just like he was the other night. He gave us a chance to win." Getting the call for the Blue Jays on Tuesday will be right-handed rookie Marcus Stroman, who suffered his first loss of the season his last time out. After winning his previous two starts Stroman absorbed the loss to Minnesota on Wednesday, allowing three runs and nine hits over six innings to fall to 3-1 on the year to go along with a 5.18 ERA. The Medford, New York native will be making his first-ever appearance against the Yankees. "Any time you have an opportunity to pitch in front of a bunch of family and friends its exciting," Stroman said. "I have a bunch of people texting me, a lot of people from high school, college reaching out to me telling me theyll be at the game." New York won two out of three games in their lone meeting with Toronto this season. ' ' '