Shane O’Neill (center). (Photo: Bart Young / Colorado Rapids)
Jürgen Klinsmann did a good job of selecting players to try to improve positions where the United States Men’s National Team needed to improve. World Soccer Source applauds him for calling up players such as Chris Klute, DeAndre Yedlin, Shane O’Neill, Dax McCarty, Benny Feilhaber, Mix Diskerud, Luis Gil, and Tally Hall.
While this writer feels that both Andrew Farrell and Amobi Okugo deserved call-ups, the German’s picks showed a willingness to look at new talents in order to improve the overall technical ability and athleticism of the USMNT.
Thus, here is World Soccer Source’s Preferred USMNT XI for the match against South Korea after the January Camp:
Chris Klute (right) is likely the best American left back. (Photo: Garrett Ellwood / Colorado Rapids)
Jürgen Klinsmann and the coaching staff of the United States Men’s National Team called up to the January Camp a number of players that can shore up positions where the United States is weak.
Most notabaly, Chris Klute, DeAndre Yedlin, Shane O’Neill, Benny Feilhaber, Mix Diskerud, and Dax McCarty were called up.
Klute and Yedlin address the United States’ major problems at the outside back positions, and Feilhaber, Diskerud, and Gil address the United States National Team’s inability to keep possession and break down opposing defenses.
Shane O’Neill (center). (Photo: Bart Young / Colorado Rapids)
Jürgen Klinsmann has a great opportunity to see how many of the new or young Major League Soccer talents stack up to many of his regular Major League Soccer selections. With a very tough World Cup Group G coming up this summer, the January camp gives the coaching staff of the United States the chance to evaluate multiple players at every position to see their strengths and their weaknesses as well as trying to approximate how they will do against World Cup competition.
Players like Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Benny Feilhaber, Eddie Johnson, and Juan Agudelo should allow Klinsmann to gain some sort of perspective of the quality of his defensive options in terms of positioning, tackling, quickness, speed, technical ability, and aerial ability.
Furthermore, defenders like Omar Gonzalez and Matt Besler who have performed pretty well by international standards in 2013 will allow the coaching staff to evaluate attacking midfielders and forwards.
Given Kyle Beckerman’s lack of sufficient athleticism, despite his sound technical ability, finding another defensive midfielder to add to the list of Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones, and Geoff Cameron should also be a priority.
Technically, the players playing their club soccer in Mexico and Europe should mostly be unavailable with the exception of Scandinavia-based players or players in between clubs in any league.
Klinsmann probably won’t call up a group bigger than 23 players for the January camp, but the camp allows the coaching staff an extended look at an assortment of internationally-experienced or internationally-inexperienced players.
Additionally, Clint Dempsey could possibly be loaned out to a European side during the January camp.
Below is a long list of likely or not-so-likely January camp player options for the United States Men’s National Team:
GOALKEEPERS: Nick RIMANDO; Clint IRWIN; Dan KENNEDY; Tally HALL; Bill HAMID; Sean JOHNSON
CENTER BACKS: Omar GONZALEZ; Matt BESLER; Shane O’NEILL; Andrew FARRELL; Chris SCHULER; Amobi OKUGO; Gale AGBOSSOUMONDE, Clarence GOODSON, Michael PARKHURST, George JOHN
