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The tradition of holding a January camp for mostly MLS players looking to break through into the U.S. naitonal team is going to be maintained during the Jurgen Klinsmann era and the German manager will be putting together his first January camp very shortly.
A 2011 MLS season that saw several new faces emerge as strong national team candidates should give Klinsmann plenty of fresh faces to look at as he tries to find reinforcements for his European-based contingent.
Just what sort of veteran presence we will see at the camp remains to be seen, though Klinsmann's mandate that national team players be training as often as possible would suggest he plans on having a player like Landon Donovan in January's camp, assuming Donovan isn't heading somewhere in loan this winter.
What we are likely to see in January is something similar to last January's camp, which was an extremely young group, though this year's projected squad could be considered much stronger than the 2011 camp squad.
So who will Klinsmann call up in January? Here is one projected roster:
PROJECTED USMNT ROSTER FOR JANUARY CAMP
GK– Bill Hamid, Sean Johnson, Zac MacMath
D– Sheanon Williams, Zach Loyd, Michael Parkhurst, Tim Ream, Omar Gonzalez, George John, Geoff Cameron, Heath Pearce, Todd Dunivant
M– Landon Donovan, Brek Shea, Freddy Adu, Graham Zusi, Robbie Rogers, Kyle Beckerman, Benny Feilhaber, Mikkel Diskerud, Jeff Larentowicz, Michael Farfan
F– Teal Bunbury, Juan Agudelo, C.J. Sapong, Chris Rolfe
———
There are plenty of names missing from this list that could have been included, such as Sporting KC defenders Matt Besler and Chance Myers, Real Salt Lake's Nat Borchers and San Jose's Chris Wondolowski just to name a few. This list is the group I can see Klinsmann calling in.
Not all the players are young obviously. Chris Rolfe turns 29 next month, but he's been enjoying a standout season with Aalborg, while Michael Parkhurst, who turns 28 next month, has done very well for Nordsjaelland this past season.
Also consider injuries. Chris Pontius and Brad Davis are not, as far as I know, far enough along in their recovery from injuries to be included in this group. If either or both are healthy, I'd have to think they'd merit strong consideration.
My wild card in this group is clearly Michael Farfan. He wasn't a regular starter for Philadelphia, but he showed some really good form late in the year, and with there being relatively few good wing options, I could certainly see him being a surprising inclusion much the way Eric Alexander was a surprising inclusion in the 2011 January camp.
Keep in mind that European-based and Mexican-based players won't be available since European clubs outside of Scandinavian leagues such as Denmark and Sweden are back in season, while Mexican clubs are already preparing for pre-season by the time January's camp gets underway in Arizona.
What do you think of this group? What names are you glad to see on this list? Who is missing that you would like to see get a look from Klinsmann in January?
Share your thoughts below.
wondo played as well as anyone else on US team – and deserse another shot — where were you this summer, not watching the game…
The USMNT has never developed a player; the clubs do that. The USMNT just picks them.
Think about how much time a guy like Bunbury spends with JK and then compare tht to how much time he spends with his club. No contest.
I doubt Wondo will be called in but his goal scoring knack is something you may not be able to teach other players. If you could JK would have these guys live with him. Every club would hire someone like JK to live with their strikers. There is no magic formula that JK is going to dispense at his camp.
If the players on your list are going to develop into productive strikers they will do so at their clubs.
Jozy has been a regular starter for the US for almost two years but his productivity in terms of goals only developed when he got himself a good club situation that allowed him to develop. Hopefully Jozy can carry that success over to the USMNT.
I’m gonna focus on 1 player in this post-OMAR GONZALEZ, OMAR GONZALEZ, OMAR GONZALEZ! I don’t understand why he isn’t already in the picture. He’s better than Ream, Orozco Fiscal, and our defense is in no way set. He’s Defender of the year, on the championship team, and has been consistent since he came in the league. He needs to get into the set up, pronto, before he seriously starts considering playing for Mexico. Which would be a disaster :/