U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has named an 28-man roster for the U.S. national team’s January camp and friendly matches against Chile and Panama. Fourteen players have yet to make a senior national team appearsance.
The camp will run from Jan. 12-Feb. 8 and will initially start in California for 12 days before the entire squad travel to Santiago in Chile ahead of their first friendly against Chile on Jan. 28. Following that match, the team will then travel to the National Training Center as the camp culminates in another friendly match, this time CONCACAF foe Panama awaits on Feb. 8 at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif.
Klinsmann included seven players from the 2014 World Cup squad (Matt Besler, Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, Mix Diskerud, Jermaine Jones, Nick Rimando and Chris Wondolowski, but his primary objective is preparing a team to compete in the 2015 Gold Cup this summer in the U.S., and the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
“The prize in 2015 for the senior National Team is the Gold Cup, and this camp will give a lot of our players a chance to kick start their preparations for an important year,” Klinsmann said. “We also get an opportunity to introduce the next wave of young players into the program, and in particular work with many of our Olympic-age guys as they build toward qualifying for the 2016 Olympics in Rio.”
Some noticeable names named to this roster include Canadian born FC Dallas forward Tesho Akindele, the 2014 MLS Rookie of the Year, Julio Morales who plays in the Mexican second-tier and LA Galaxy forward Gyasi Zardes.
The full squad is listed below:
USMNT ROSTER
GOALKEEPERS (4): Alex Bono (unattached), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Jon Kempin (Sporting Kansas City), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS (8): Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), Steve Birnbaum (D.C. United), Christian Dean (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Jermaine Jones (New England Revolution), Perry Kitchen (D.C. United), Shane O’Neill (Colorado Rapids), Oscar Sorto (LA Galaxy)
MIDFIELDERS (10): Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Mix Diskerud (out of contract), Dennis Flores (Club Leon), Luis Gil (Real Salt Lake), Miguel Ibarra (Minnesota United FC), Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution), Marc Pelosi (Liverpool), Dillon Serna (Colorado Rapids), Brek Shea (Orlando City SC), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew SC)
FORWARDS (6): Tesho Akindele (FC Dallas), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Julio Morales (Tepic), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes), Bobby Wood (1860 Munich), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy)