By FRANCO PANIZO
U.S. men's national team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann unveiled the final additions to his summer training camp before World Cup qualifying on Sunday. And is the case every time a roster is announced, there was much debate and criticism over who was and was not selected.
Fans and pundits alike dissected Klinsmann's latest round of call-ups at length, especially the topic of which missing players deserved to be called into the 27-man roster that is currently training in Orlando, Fla., before this summer's slate of games.
At the center of many of those discussions was Sacha Kljestan, the RSC Anderlecht midfielder who is coming off a season in which he helped the club win the Belgian League title. Kljestan enjoyed a career year this campaign, starting 35 of the 36 league games he played in while scoring five goals. That's not to mention his 10 starts in the Europa League.
Ultimately, however, Kljestan plays a position the United States is extremely deep at. And with the likes of Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones and Jose Torres all called in, Klinsmann may simply have felt he had enough central midfielders in camp who are already established members of his team.
Another player whose omission was surprising to some was Eric Lichaj. The Aston Villa defender started nine consecutive games for the Premiership club since recovering from a hip injury, and he performed well at both right back and left back during that stretch.
Lichaj's absence was shocking to some given the lack of fullbacks capable of playing on the left side in the U.S. pool, a long-time weakness that has been further magnified over the course of the last week due to Timmy Chandler declining a call-up.
Then there's DaMarcus Beasley, who is coming off a strong season with Puebla. Beasley started 14 of the 17 games he played in during the Mexican Clausura campaign, and he scored five goals in those matches. Beasley is also another left-footed weapon Klinsmann could have selected, but not even Brek Shea's absence was enough to bring in the experienced veteran.
A case can be made for any of the aforementioned players and as well as others like Tim Ream, Benny Feilhaber or Kenny Cooper. But as is the case with every national team roster that gets put together, not everyone can get a call-up.
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Which missing player do you think was the most deserving of getting called into the Orlando camp for a look? Was it Kljestan? Lichaj? Beasley? Someone else?
Share your thoughts below.