The Americans are going to be very, very young.
The United States will gather at the StubHub Center on January 12 for a four-week training camp, and Jurgen Klinsmann has his roster for it. He has picked a very young team, with some players who haven't even become members of their clubs' first teams yet to go along with veterans from throughout MLS.
Because the training camp does not fall on a FIFA international date, clubs were not required to release players for it. Klinsmann could only call in players who were out of season, or in a couple cases, youngsters whose clubs were happy to let them go, train and develop because they weren't with the first team anyway.
The veterans in the team are Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, Nick Rimando, Matt Besler, Mix Diskerud, Jermaine Jones and Chris Wondolowski, all of whom were on the Americans' World Cup team last year. That core will be counted upon to lead the team, provide an example and ensure that the training sessions remain at a high level despite a bunch of new faces. The only moderate surprise of that group is Bradley, who underwent foot surgery in November, but he is apparently fit.
Of the youngsters, it will be interesting to see how Marc Pelosi does. He has been one of the best players for various U.S. youth teams and the reports on his play out of the Liverpool academy have been good, but he's never played for the first team. This will be a test for the 20-year-old.
The same is true of Dennis Flores, the 21-year-old Club Leon player who has only played twice for the senior team. Julio Morales was a part of the Mexico U-20s, but is now in U.S. camp and, while he is on loan at Tepic, is from Chivas Guadalajara, who do not allow players to play for national teams other than Mexico so that will be interesting. Alex Bono is fresh out of college and will be eligible for the draft, while Christian Dean has played just four times for the Vancouver Whitecaps and Oscar Sorto only has one appearance for the LA Galaxy under his belt.
In addition to the inexperienced kids, Klinsmann called in some of MLS's better young players who have no caps to their names. That includes Wil Trapp and Perry Kitchen, who are 21 and 22 years old respectively. The pair are among the better young central midfielders in the league and are expected to battle for starting spots with the U.S. in the coming years. Tesho Akindele, who won 2014 MLS Rookie of the Year and recently received U.S. citizenship is in the team, meaning he won't play for Canada, as is Steve Birnbaum, who some thought should have been Rookie of the Year and has a chance to compete for a starting spot in central defense this cycle.
Most people expected Klinsmann to go with a young team and he has done just that, but some might be surprised by just how young he has gone. The likes of Trapp and Kitchen were expected, but not Flores, Morales, Bono, Dean and Sorto. 12 of the players on the roster will be eligible to play for the U.S. team at the 2016 Olympics, showing just how young the team is and Klinsmann's commitment to the U-23 Olympic program.
The U.S. team will train in California beginning on January 12, then go to Chile for a friendly against La Roja on January 28. They will then return to the StubHub Center, where they will wrap up training camp with a friendly against Panama on February 8.
Goalkeepers: Alex Bono (unattached), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Jon Kempin (Sporting Kansas City), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
Defenders: Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), Steve Birnbaum (D.C. United), Christian Dean (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Jermaine Jones (New England Revolution), Perry Kitchen (D.C. United), Shane O’Neill (Colorado Rapids), Oscar Sorto (LA Galaxy)
Midfielders: Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Mix Diskerud (out of contract), Dennis Flores (Club Leon), Luis Gil (Real Salt Lake), Miguel Ibarra (Minnesota United FC), Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution), Marc Pelosi (Liverpool), Dillon Serna (Colorado Rapids), Brek Shea (Orlando City SC), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew SC)
Forwards: Tesho Akindele (FC Dallas), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Julio Morales (Tepic), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes), Bobby Wood (1860 Munich), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy)
Source SBNation.com - All Posts http://ift.tt/1AS9y3b
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