Photo by Bernd Feil/ISIphotos.com
The U.S. men's national team's January camp appears to be culminating with two matches close to the Equator.
According to numerous reports, Venezuela will host the U.S. national team in a friendly on January 21. The prospective match comes days before another reported friendly, which pits the United States against Panama in Panama City on January 25.
If the two dates hold up, it would end a six-year stretch in which the United States has ended its January camp with a friendly at the Home Depot Center. Neither fixture has been officially confirmed yet by U.S. Soccer.
Venezuela has been one of the surprise, rising teams in South America over the last year, coming in fourth in this past summer's Copa America. La Vinotinto is currently tied for first in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying along with Uruguay and Argentina and managed to defeat Lionel Messi & Co. in a qualifier last month.
What do you think of this development? Do you like the opponent choices?
Share your thoughts below.
Good opponents, especially considering they are road games. Hopefully Juergen takes B team to test younger players and improve squad depth.
I like the road games being scheduled. With World Cup Qualifying coming up, the team needs to get used to it again. This camp will also be one for many fringe players so Venezuela and Panama on the road will definitely be good opponents with good crowds rooting against them.
Wondering if this means we won’t see Camp Cupcake. Which would be a shame, there’s a lot of players who deserve a look. These matches aren’t noob fodder at all.
The end of Camp Cupcake…..
Which is kind of a silly name considering how tough the conditioning and training was.
US playing in Venezuela? I hope the USMNT is taking a battalion of the 82D Airborne with them, just in case…
It’s great to have our players getting more matches away from home. I sure hope we just call in MLS/Scandinavian league players. I’m sure they can hold their own.
What do you guys think of this squad?
Goalkeepers: Sean Johnson, Bill Hamid, Zac McMath
Defenders: Sheanon Williams, Sean Franklin, Omar Gonzalez, George John, Geoff Cameron, Michael Parkhurst, Todd Dunivant, Zach Lloyd
Midfielders: Mix Diskerud, Brek Shea, Freddy Adu, Luis Gil, Kyle Beckerman, Benny Feilhaber, Josh Gatt, Chris Pontius if healthy, Graham Zusi
Forwards: Juan Agudelo, Teal Bunbury, CJ Sapong, Chris Rolfe
I’m sure I’m leaving some people out, feel free to add to them?
Please just put Jozy in the back row next time so he doesn’t have to do the awkward half-squat.
Ben Lederman, Emerson Hyndman. Might as well cap them now.
Where are these guys from?
I’m excited about Greg Garza getting a chance to play with Tijuana, he might be in direct competition with Edgar Castillo another USMNT pool potential Left back but I have a feeling Castillo might play Left mid more but regardless I like Garza for Left back, did very well for U-20s and handled guys with speed very well.
Hope he gets to sign and start for Tijuana, it would add to our depth and help us move Chandler to his natural Right Back spot, Lichaj is another possibility but he’s out injured for a little while longer
Not Bad….better than the crap squads Ives puts together.
Just like our once-scheduled game with Egypt, this is a front.
But seriously, if this game is in the US, could we see some defections?
Has Hyndman done anything since the stint with Newcastle? I remember in his grandfather’s first season as coach of FC Dallas the fans were wanting him fired because he had his grandson practice with the team a few times. Yet another example of it being a good thing that the fans don’t run the teams.
Yeah, take that ives.
Seriously?
I’m guessing no camp cupcake but a 5-7 day camp followed by these two friendlies using A-team level players or atleast those from a top 25 player pool.
These games don’t fall on an international date, so most of our top 25 will have club commitments.
More likely to see MLS folk, possibly some scandinavians. Not sure what mexico’s calendar looks like.
I’m OmarVizquel, and I approved this message.
Can we Get Jozy in the back row for team pics? I am tired of his half squat…looks ridiculous
I think Ives most of the time puts up a line up that he (Ives) thinks the current Mgr is most likely to use, not necessarily the one he would like to see or the one he believes we should see etc..
Eier way, they are way off. You can also tell who his favorites are, which is a big no-no for a journalist
In must countries south of the US they love to thrown batteries and the infamous poop / urine bags. In Panama and Venezuela we can expect baseballs. I hope we bring our gloves!!
Since when is Venezuela a communist country?
It’s a given that he is taking the ‘B’ team…more like the ‘C’ team…these are January non-FIFA dates, so it’ll be a team compromised of MLS & assorted Scandinavian players.
The idea for January is typically not to bring in an entire team of new guys but to mix in several new faces. It’s important to have some of the mainstays in place to show the new guys how it’s done. This way you also get to guage the new guys more accurately as you see them playing in a more authentic environment. Given that Klinsi places more emphasis on continuity than his predecessors, I’d be surprised to see that type of roster, Edwin.
Maybe, but Boca seems to be loving it!
Give
It
A
Rest
That doesn’t preclude a horrible team… it’s the perfect chance to try out a bunch of new and fringe players.
You aren’t serious right? You need to stop watching Faux News
Looks good to me.
F: Sapong, Agudelo
M: Shea, Feilhaber/Zusi, Beckerman, Gatt
D: Dunivant, Cameron, Gonzalez, Parkhurst
John is first defender off the bench.
Well, we’ll have a good excuse for that invasion Chavez is so terrified of!
good stuff. this will certainly be MLS and Scandinavian based players. Just because it isn’t in LA doesn’t mean we can’t bring a B-C team. It’s good experience.
The real question is whether or not JK wants to use these games to continue gelling the A team. But given they aren’t FIFA dates, I doubt we’ll even be able to get the A team there.
You mean Bob Bradley will soon coach Venezuela?
I think you mean “doesn’t preclude bringing a competitive team,” rather.
I’m pretty sure Venezuelan players freely move in and out of Venezuela. See: Alejandro Moreno.
Save Camp Cupcake! I have always had a good time at those games.
Ah, thanks for the grammar update. Yeah… “doesn’t preclude a horrible team” doesn’t make sense.
I’d actually be pretty excited to see what a lot of the up-and-coming MLSers can do. I’d also like to see Parkhurst, Diskerud, and to a lesser extent, Rolfe, get another shot with the senior team.
is Omar a US or Venezuela supporter? still live in Cleveland?
they should just do an Blue vs. Red game. (inter-squad).. would people pay $5 GA ticket to see this?
Red:
—Agudelo—Bunbury—
Gatt-Zuzi-Feilhaber-Adu
Dunivant-Ream-Cameron-Williams
———–Hamid———-
Blue:
—-Sapong—Rolfe—–
Shea-Beckerman-Gil–Mixx
Lloyd-Parkhy-Gonzo-Franklin
———Johnson———-
maybe 3-5 guys on each side’s bench…
JOZY ALTIDORE SUCKS.
that’s all.
He’s with Fulham’s academy now. Lederman was the first American to sign with Barça’s academy, but he’s only 11 or 12.
Wow. This level of ignorance is why Republicans are able to win elections, with candidates who display little acquaintance with economic, scientific and social realities.
YOUR ON DRUGS.
that is all.
YOU’RE*
Are you being sarcastic or being for real ? Venezuela ruling party (United Socialist Party) that Chzez is is founded in Marxist ideology. Last time I checked Karl Marx was a communist.
Training and scriammges I thought are free to the public. Why would anyone pay ?
Other than Donavon, Goodson, Beckerman, Shea and possibly Ream this team will not be anything like the team that will be fielded for the first qualifying match. Except for Donavon, this is the level of team the US had in the 2009 Gold Cup, which some described as the C team. I am not sure holding their own is all that likely, especially since there will be only a short time to get them organized. It will give some players a chance to make their case for later, but it might not be pretty!
Sure, but no team has to release its players for these friendlies, translation euro-club starters like Dempsey, Bocanegra, Onweyu, Bradley, Jones, Cherundolo, Chandler, Howard, Sasha, and Altidore will most likely not be available. Klinsmann may not have much say it that.
It will be interesting to see if Klinsmann calls in Wondolowski who won the MLS golden boot, or the defender of the year, Omar Gonzales or Sean Franklin. Other than Donavon, attacking USA mids in MLS are few, sorry Freddy and Benny, but Mike Magee is intriguing. Will Brad Davis finally get some attention (I suspect not due to injury).
It is hard to know what to say about the players from Scandanavia who will be available; I’ve seen them so seldom.
Would Venezuelans defect? Why not? The violence in that country is nearly uncontrolable; the Nationals’ catcher was kidnapped a couple of weeks ago.
Chavez might not be a full-bore Communist but he *is* a dictator whose “Bolivarian” political philosophy is a front for centralized control and personal power. Besides, he’s definitely more interested in helping the Iranians than he is in helping his own people.
A defector is typically someone who leaves one country for another for ideological reasons. The country to whom the defector goes is often an “enemy” of the defector’s country. Often the country the defector is leaving forbids travel abroad that is not heavily supervised.
As far as I know Venezuelans are free to come and go as their economic status and their personal desires permit. MLB is full of Venezuelan players who come and go as they please. And there are a few in MLS as well. And of course the immortal Grievous Vasquez plays in the NBA in Memphis of all places. I don’t think Gary Williams, who was unable to get defectors from Baltimore on a consistent enough basis,got him to defect to Maryland.
While Chavez is not exactly a US buddy, I doubt most Americans, at least outside of Cameron Indoor stadium, view Venezuelans as an “enemy” people. There is no state of war between the US and Venezuela, cold or otherwise.
Also the Venezuelans have nothing to teach us about crime that we are not already well versed in.
Finally, the game is in Venezuela so the only players who might possibly “defect” would be US players.
Good matches for the young MLS & Scandanavian players. I personally think we’re likely to see the U-23 team with a handful of 1st teamers/fringe guys. Id like to see at least some of the following…
Keepers: Johnson, Hamid, Rimando, Unkown. Defenders: Gonzalez, John, Ream, Loyd, Williams, Alston, Franklin, DeLaGarza. Midfield: Adu, Zusi, Okugo, Mixx, Donovan, Shea, Gatt, Corona, Duka, Beckerman. Forwards: Bunbury, Sepong, Rolfe, Agudelo
YAY!!!!!! POLITICAL DEBATES ON A SOCCER WEBSITE!
Oh and GW I was not replying to you. I just wanted to post this here as everyone is talking polot***
Wow the level of ignorance here is hilarious. Venezuela is not a communist country and has democratic elections. Plus there are players like Giancarlo Maldonado that turned down the chance to play for Uruguay to play for Venezuela. Also, there are a few players that play for Venezuela that have lived for years in the US like Alejandro Moreno. People on here can be incredibly, incredibly stupid.
With Americans like you taking up oxygen it’s not wonder China is overtaking the US.
How do you know he (D’Hippolito) is an American?
Buddy,you do not know what the heck you are talking about.
I can’t pretend to understand all of Klinsmann’s roster selections, but bringing in Donovan, Beckerman, Goodson, Shea, Agudelo and Rimando would provide the highest level of experience possible on a non-Fifa date. Plus, there would be plenty of roster space to evaluate fringe players.
I would also expect to see Robbie Rogers again, but think Duka and Gaven deserve looks first, IMO.