The never ending search for an answer to the U.S. Men’s National Team full back situation took an unexpected twist on Wednesday, as former Portland Timbers left back Jorge Villafana confirmed he’s on the way to January camp in California.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPsn9qNhxS8ajsnlef6W-Z2SpUoEztflU6yN4M0/
Villafana, who moved to Santos Lagune after the Timbers won MLS Cup in 2015, will be a late addition to the group that started training in California a week ago ahead of friendlies with Serbia and Jamaica, the first of which takes place on Sunday in San Diego.
The 27-year-old Villafana has made appearances for the Yanks at the U20 and U23 levels, but he’s never burst into the first-team picture until Wednesday. He joins DaMarcus Beasley, Graham Zusi, Greg Garza, Taylor Kemp and Keegan Rosenberry as the available full backs for the upcoming matches in San Diego and Chattanooga.
Idk about his play at Laguna, but he played well with the timbers. Hell, he’s already on par with the other contenders in this camp.
Villafaña
One would assume a move back to MLS is not far behind. Hasn’t played a LigaMx match since October and having lost their first two CopaMx matches he’s unlikely to get much cup time going forward.
I disagree he has another cycle 31 is not bad for a winger. Him and Alvarado played together. You have to be more positicw. I hope maybe him and Alvarado can play more and maybe be a good combo and have Pulisic and Johnson on each wing. I feel he will get more time.
I was just referencing that a team in season probably isn’t going to release a player for national team duty if they were planning on using him (especially from your rival country). If he stays the whole rest of camp which who knows if that’s the idea, or just for this weekend, but missing two more games for your club doesn’t seem like the way to earn back your starting spot.
Does this also mean that Beasley and Garza have not done well?
And I don’t know if he’s good enough to play for the Nats or not I’m just saying it looks like his time at Santos might be up. Doesn’t mean he isn’t quality just that he isn’t in the right situation for him.
johnnyrazor – there are a couple reasons a club maybe willing to release a player during the season….
1) He’s recovering from an injury of some type. Same situation happened with Orozco (last year or the year before), and the club has sufficient coverage, so will allow the release in the hopes the player gets some game time.
2) The club wants to shop him, but don’t want to give them time during games that actually matter. Allowing them to attend a national team camp will provide recent game tape and help move them along.
As for Garza & Beasley….Beasley is more of a player-coach at this point. He’ll help mentor Garza, but he’s not going to push him much. DMB is OLD, and shouldn’t realistically be in contention for a roster spot in March.
Lost: I was trying use your number two reason, perhaps I wasn’t clear enough. There has been no report of injury that I have seen anywhere.