Once again, Jurgen Klinsmann is full of surprises as he named his squad for the United States Men's National Team January Camp. Never one to shy away from risk or controversial decisions, several names stand out as surprise inclusions, both negatively and positively.
Here is the is the squad in full:
GOALKEEPERS :
Alex Bono (Syracuse), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Jon Kempin (Sporting Kansas City), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake).
DEFENDERS :
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 :
Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Mix Diskerud (Rosenborg), Dennis Flores (Club Leon), Luis Gil (Real Salt Lake), Miguel Ibarra (Minnesota United FC), Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution), Marc Pelosi (Liverpool FC), Dillon Serna (Colorado Rapids), Brek Shea (Orlando City SC), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew).
FORWARDS :
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).
Among those selected, seven (Rimando, Besler, Jones, Bradley, Diskerud, Dempsey, and Wondolowski) were a part of the United States' 2014 World Cup roster, where as several others (Johnson, Evans, Gil, and Shea) have been regularly capped for the national team, with Brad Evans an important member of the United States' qualifying efforts.
Bono, a college junior had declared his intention to enter into the Major League Soccer 2015 SuperDraft, and is widely expected to sign a Generation Adidas contract with the league. As per the university's website, Bono is the all time leader in goals-against average for Syracuse at 0.80, as well as the second all time leader in shut outs with 30. Goalkeeping counterpart Jon Kempin is a home-grown player for Sporting Kansas City, and is expected to contend for the starting role with newly acquired Chilean keeper Luis Marin.
As expected, Jones will continue his work as a center back for the national team, and his accompanied by DC United stand out, and rookie of the year nominee Steve Birnbaum, as well as US-20 regular Shane O'Neil. Among the list, one bizarre decision of Klinsmann's is his naming of DC United defensive midfielder, Perry Kitchen as a defender. While tenacious and an excellent tackler, it is unknown whether Klinsmann plans to utilize the 6ft midfielder as a center back. Vancouver's Christian Dean remains a bizarre inclusion, the rookie center back played just four games in the entirity of the 2014 MLS season and is regarded as having taken potentially taken the spot of MLS Cup runner-up and versatile defender, Andrew Farrell. Finally Oscar Sorto rounds out the list of defenders. The 20 year old home-grown right back played the entirety of the season in USL on loan from the LA Galaxy to their “reserve team” affiliate LA Galaxy II, and despite a good season in USL has only featured in one MLS match.
The midfield features faces both new and old, with Orlando City's newly acquired Brek Shea returning to the national team fold for the first time in a while accompanied by NASL MVP Miguel Ibarra, whose first call up earlier this year shocked many in the American soccer world. Along with the the wingers, New England's Lee Nguyen returns to the national set up after having been recalled by Klinsmann for his first cap in 7 years earlier this year, along with former US-20 captain Wil Trapp, and current U-20 member, Dillon Serna. The two more shocking names given call up in midfield are Liverpool's Marc Pelosi, a regular for the Liverpool U-21 side, who at age 20 has yet to see any action for the first team. Finally, California-born, Dennis Flores who only made his professional debut in March is the last of the midfielders called up.
Although many expected Stanford's Jordan Morris to receive another call up from Klinsmann, his place is taken by another one of the more surprising call-ups, Mexican second division forward, Julio Morales. Morales, a duel-national, has previously been capped for the Mexican U-20 national team, and is on loan to Tepic from Mexican giants Chivas de Guadalajara, having previously played with Chivas' American counterpart. The move appears to be an effort to lock down Morales for the United States, rather than risk losing him to Mexico. Morales is accompanied by utility forward Bobby Wood, a player who despite being only being 22 may have hit a career road block as he has rarely featured for the 2 Bundesliga side this season. Questions may be asked of Klinsmann over his decision to call up a player who disappointed in previous opportunity for the United States. Another questionable choice included in the roster is San Jose's Chris Wondolowski, despite showing flashes of excellent finishing in friendlies for the US, the striker ultimately failed to score in crucial matches for the United States in the World Cup. At 31 years of age, questions may be asked of Klinsmann's continued favoritism of Wondo, as many expected him to make way for a younger, more promising forward. Accompanied with Wondo is the ever fantastic Captain America, Clint Dempsey, LA Galaxy's break-out player of the year, Gyasi Zardes, and most shocking of all, MLS 2014 Rookie of the Year, Canadian-born Tesho Akindele. The FC Dallas forward has been previously capped for Canada's U-17's but expressed interest in representing the United States in November of 2014, and rather quickly has seemingly got his wish.