Since last year’s iteration, the concept of a January camp has been one of contention. Unimpressed with his side’s fitness levels, U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann was critical of his side heading into the start of the 2015 season.
Now, one year later, the gathering has returned, offering the USMNT a chance to both further develop the senior team as well as the level below.
The U.S. is set to take on Iceland on Jan. 31 before taking on Canada on Feb. 5. Overall, the pair of matches will cap-off a major training session that is expected to improve the fitness and form of players throughout the U.S. pool.
“When you do a January camp, obviously the goal is always to give them a head start into their season because they have a long break coming out of their MLS season,” Klinsmann said, “so we try to get them back on track and try to get them going and step-by-step give them a head start to 2016.
“Obviously we are also a little bit selfish because we scheduled in two games with Iceland on January 31st and against Canada on February 5th. We want to do well. Those are international games where we want to see the players step it up and to make their case, because we are going to go into a very, very busy year in 2016 with World Cup qualifying and the huge highlight of Copa America in June.”
On the senior national team side, the U.S. is preparing for those two vital World Cup qualifiers against Guatemala in March. After sputtering through 2015’s CONCACAF Gold Cup, the USMNT will be looking for good preparation ahead of the summer’s Copa America.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team faces a crucial Olympic playoff. Set to take on Colombia in a two-legged series, the next wave of internationals could miss out on a vital Olympic experience after failing to secure passage through CONCACAF qualifying.
With a major 2016 on the horizon, Klinsmann is utilizing the annual January camp to bring both units together to kickstart the new year.
“The make-up of the roster for the January camp in 2016 is a little bit tricky,” Klinsmann said, “because we have World Cup Qualifying on the horizon at the end of March. So one part will be the Senior Team players that we’re looking at for those qualifying games, and the other part will be for the Olympic team that also needs to qualify for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
“We basically have two groups coming in; one under the focus of our World Cup Qualifiers and the other group under the focus of qualifying for the Olympics. So it’s going to be two groups, mixed together and working together side-by-side, and hopefully we see a lot of good stuff there with two exciting games at the end of the camp.”
Klinsmann is not just looking forward to getting the potential Olympic players prepared for the upcoming playoffs.
In bringing the U-23 players to camp, Klinsmann has the opportunity to integrate the next wave of U.S. talent into the senior setup. With friendlies against Canada and Iceland lined up, several youngsters can expect to see time alongside USMNT regulars and MLS stars like Michael Bradley and Matt Besler.
That idea gives Klinsmann the best of both worlds: preparing the team for the present challenge while also getting them familiar with what lies ahead in their international careers.
“Having a part of this group being part of the Olympic team, I think it’s a big advantage because we’re going to give them a chance to get already prepared towards those playoff games with Colombia at the end of March, which is hugely important,” Klinsmann said. “We want our Olympic team to qualify for the Olympics, to go to Rio de Janeiro and to have this outstanding experience down there, so having them in camp as well with us is huge and hopefully it will pay off.”
I’m not as excited for this camp as I should be. I want to see new faces in the midfield and remain skeptical of the usefulness of these combined camps. Do we really need to see kyle Beckerman play friendlies against Iceland and Canada? If Ibarra and Corona show up on this roster then our player selection system is officially broken.
U 23’s attacking players should be focus in development like: Morris, Kiesewetter, Arriola, Pulisic, Akale and etc…Altidore, Dempsey and other rested for these friendlies.
New DM’s maybe Acosta and Stanko. With Jones suspended and Oldman Beckerman not maybe raise above CONCACAF level, USNT needs new DM’s badly.
U-23 players did’t do well in all competition (among 23 and under players)
USMNT has done horribly so far in all competition
So the solution now is how about we combine the two (instead of getting players that excelled and played better than the regulars on the USMNT playing in our league this past season), expose these youngsters to failure with Klinsmann at the helm and see what happens
Nothing to be excited about
As a Revs fan, to take Rowe and not Lee would be a horrible mistake. Every now and then Rowe does something good but his overall skill level is way below what Lee brings to the table.
I just have a sinking feeling it will be more Jozy, Bradley, Dempsey, Beckerman blah blah blah and we will learn NOTHING and players trying to break in, will not get a chance.
If so, Klinsmann must go
I want JK to have a U23 and USMNT scrimmage at the end of the January camp, oh to be a cone on the field for that one.
Same! I wish that US Soccer would periscope this on just run a YouTube stream. I would pay to see that
This doesn’t sound too promising but I’ll wait to see the actual roster. I really thought Klinsmann would focus on bringing in new faces but this just kind of sounds like we’ll be seeing more of the same.
Having a hybrid of u-23/senior call-ups serves as a measure to bring in new faces and also create familiarity with the senior structure, giving them a taste of what will be expected should they continue to progress or get the opportunity. I don’t see anything wrong with this at all.
What fresh face did you have in mind that hasn’t been called up and projects forward to Russia, out of curiosity?
Finlay, Lletget, and probably Rowe could use a look. Agudelo still has a lot of potential, need to keep pushing him. McCarty or Kitchen could still be useful as Beckerman and Jones age out. Rogers perhaps as left back is still a question. Matt Hedges deserves a look. CJ Sapong if you have to have a target forward in the pool like Gordon.
To clarify, the rosters haven’t been announced, correct? To presume we wont see some of those names is getting ahead of ourselves. However, I’m with you on wanting to see Lletget. I think he brings a techanical and attacking style sorely needed.
I haven’t seen enough matches of Finlay to make an argument for him, but I know you’re not alone in projecting his potential at the international level. However, names like Rogers, McCarty, and Agudelo are anything but fresh faces. Sapong has good athletic ability but I don’t think he has the technical skills for the international level.
Another name for the future (2017) is Dom Dwyer. Apparently he’s eligible to suit up for the Nats that year, but I’m biased because I’m from KC.
Yeah we’ll see what happens, no reason to get to negative until we see who is actually there.
I’m right there with you, Jack. Had the U-23’s taken care of business against Honduras last October ( a side they were supposed to dispatch fairly easily), this camp could have been a prime opportunity to showcase new call-ups.