Stuart Holden’s road back to professional soccer has now taken the 30-year-old midfielder to the United States Men’s National Team's January camp.

A US Soccer spokesman confirmed that USMNT head coach Jurgen Klinsmann invited the former U.S. international to the camp in Carson, California.

Been in camp all week

Holden has been training with the U.S. since the camp began on Monday. He will stay and continue to participate with the national team till the camp ends on February 6th.

No impending game action

However, that being said the former Houston Dynamo midfielder will not take part in the friendly matches at the Stubhub Center against Iceland on January 31st and against Canada on February 5th. 

Regardless that Holden will not be able to play against Iceland and the Canucks, this camp represents a first opportunity to play at the highest level of soccer since 2013 for the former Bolton Wanderers midfielder. 

Injury history

Since the tackle from former Manchester United defender Jonny Evans in 2011 which broke his leg, the 2010 World Cup veteran has been struggling to stay healthy. Holden has suffered multiple potentially-career ending injuries in a span of four years.

In 2011, he required 26 stitches to close the gash in his left knee while fracturing his femur near the knee joint. The former USMNT midfielder then had to go under the knife to fix a problem with the articular cartilage in the same knee.

His recovery time from that injury took a while. However, when he started showing signs that he was ready for first team play, Bolton decided to send him on loan to Sheffield Wednesday F.C. in May of 2013. He made four appearances with the Owls.

Back with the national team

It had appeared that Holden had finally overcome his injuries. Klinsmann subsequently awarded the midfielder a call up to the 2013 Gold Cup to represent the U.S. Holden improved with each game played, shaking off the rust and improving.

Another heartbreaking injury

However, in the final against Panama he suffered an injury in the 19th minute. He was forced to leave the game and later was diagnosed with a torn ACL, this time in his right knee.

The comeback was once again thrown off the tracks by that injury. It did not get any better for Holden, as he reinjured his right knee in a reserve match for Bolton while attempting to rehab it. After that injury, it seemed all but over for Holden.

Bolton and Holden parted ways in 2014 and he started to do more work in the media, acting as a pundit for ESPN FC and FOX Sports. He had never announced his retirement, but it seemed that the last injury had become too great of a hurdle to overcome.

Not done yet

However, Holden was not done. This winter in California he spent time training with seven Major League Soccer (MLS) players: Benny Feilhaber (Sporting Kansas City), Dom Dwyer (Sporting Kansas City), Sacha Kljestan (New York Red Bulls), A.J. DeLaGarza (LA Galaxy), Hector Jimenez (Columbus Crew), Steve Birnbaum (DC United) and Servando Carrasco (Orlando City SC).

However, there is still a long road for Holden to officially be back into the realm of professional soccer. Will he come back to MLS? Or try Europe again? These are all questions that can be answered later, but in the meantime the USMNT faithful will have another reason to keep a close eye on this camp as it develops.