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Steffen, Ramirez, Opara headline USMNT squad for January Camp

The annual January Camp is a time for new faces to break into the U.S. Men’s National Team picture, and several MLS standouts will get that chance in this year’s upcoming gathering.

Zack Steffen, Ike Opara and Christian Ramirez headline the USMNT squad for the upcoming camp, which begins on January 10 and culminates with a friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina on January 28.

In total, the squad features 15 players in search of their first USMNT cap with 10 of those players also joining a senior camp for the first time. Opara and Ramirez are among those 10, joined by Danny Acosta, Russell Canouse, Marky Delgado, Justen Glad, Marlon Hairston, Ian Harkes, Brooks Lennon and Nick Lima.

Of the 30 players, 21 are under the age of 24 with Jordan Morris, Paul Arriola, Gyasi Zardes and Juan Agudelo serving as the four most experienced players within the group.

Here’s a closer look at the USMNT squad:

GOALKEEPERS: Alex Bono (Toronto FC/CAN; 0/0), Bill Hamid (Midtjylland/DEN; 4/0), Cody Cropper (New England Revolution; 0/0), Zack Steffen (Columbus Crew SC; 0/0)

DEFENDERS: Danny Acosta (Real Salt Lake; 0/0), Justen Glad (Real Salt Lake; 0/0), Nick Lima (San Jose Earthquakes; 0/0), Justin Morrow (Toronto FC/CAN; 3/0), Ike Opara (Sporting Kansas City; 0/0), Tim Parker (Vancouver Whitecaps FC/CAN; 0/0), Matt Polster (Chicago Fire; 0/0), Brandon Vincent (Chicago Fire; 1/0), Walker Zimmerman (Los Angeles Football Club; 1/0)

MIDFIELDERS: Tyler Adams (New York Red Bulls; 1/0), Paul Arriola (D.C. United; 15/2), Russell Canouse (D.C. United; 0/0), Marky Delgado (Toronto FC/CAN; 0/0), Marlon Hairston (Colorado Rapids; 0/0), Ian Harkes (D.C. United; 0/0), Brooks Lennon (Real Salt Lake; 0/0), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders FC; 1/0), Kelyn Rowe (New England Revolution; 3/1), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew SC; 2/0), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy; 37/6)

FORWARDS: Juan Agudelo (New England Revolution; 27/3), Dom Dwyer (Orlando City SC; 4/2), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders FC; 24/5), Christian Ramirez (Minnesota United FC; 0/0), Rubio Rubin (Unattached; 4/0), C.J. Sapong (Philadelphia Union; 3/0)

 

Comments

  1. Kellyn Acosta and Adams should be wing backs on the national team. They are both great tacklers and extremely athletic, but they see the game and have the ability of central midfielders. This is exactly what we need if we are going to become a team that can truly take the game at our opponent and dictate the tempo.

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  2. Happy with some of the Omissions…(Bradley, Jozy, Guzan, Zusi, Bedoya, Nagbe, Hedges, etc…), but have to scratch my head regarding some of the inclusions….(Hairston, Harkes, Trapp, Opara, etc…).
    I realize that this camp isn’t during a FIFA window, but some of the selections aren’t going to add value to the USMNT beyond a year or two.

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  3. Some of these selections make the MLS/USMNT look bad. Didn’t Ian Harkes loose his spot to Canouse when he came to DC, and Zardes come on man. If the USMNT can’t put together a decent roster of young players from their own domestic league there are some huge issues not being addressed. I would have rather had Tommy Thompson than some of these players. This is just a sad day for fans of not just the USMNT but should also be one for MLS fans as well.

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    • I meant to add Will Trapp and Juan Agudelo as players that just are not good enough. Decent league players but not fit for the international level. I guess they needed to fill out the roster and since not a lot to choose from just said find Americans and call them

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  4. A RUBIO sighting I haven’t been this excited since Johnathan Gonzalez was thought to be a lock for the USMNT!! Sad face.

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    • Looks like we already lost him per Steven Goff.
      .
      Since Camp Cupcake falls outside the FIFA window there was a slim-to-none chance he would come in for this anyway even if they had invited him.

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    • Joe- He couldn’t be called into camp for the US because the US match is on Sunday the 28th Monterrey has a match that week on Wednesday and Saturday evening. The Mexico match is the following Wednesday, with no Monterrey match until the next weekend. Switch or no switch JGone would not have been available for this friendly.

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  5. my lineup: hamid, polster, zimmerman, glad, Vincent, adams, delgado, roldan, arriola, morris, rowe.
    subs;: steffen/bono, lima, opara, parker, morrow, canouse, harkes, zardes, dwayer, agudelo, sapong

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