Every year the United States Men’s National Team has January Camp. It is a month long sojourn in sunny California and is a mixture of proven vets and untested youngsters in the national arena. Every year there are a couple of breakout players who become mainstays on the US pitch as a result. Typically the group consists of domestic players, as the European and Mexican leagues are already in full swing. The camp concludes with two matches, January 28th against Chile and February 8th against Panama.
In 2012 the breakouts were Graham Zusi and Geoff Cameron and in 2013 it was Matt Besler. None of the three players had ever garnered many international minutes before their breakout.
This year, the breakout players will be Perry Kitchen and Gyasi Zardes.
The fact that Kitchen is only now seeing serious consideration at the senior team level is a bit bewildering. He is a four year starter for D.C. United, and is only 22. He has always been a stalwart defensively, but it has been his steady growth as an offensive player that will make him a breakout in camp. He has an uncanny ability to be at the start of a string of passes that lead to a goal. When it happens once it is an accident, when it becomes routine it is proof that he is seeing the game like a chess match, anticipating moves that few others can see. The question is whether national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann will see him as a central defensive midfielder or on the backline. He was listed on the call up as a defender, and given the lack of a concrete central defenders for the U.S. squad it does make sense.
Matt Besler, Omar Gonzalez, John Brooks, Geoff Cameron and now Jermaine Jones have all started for the squad in the central defense with a varying degrees of success. If Kitchen can learn how to master the position, he could be an integral mainstay in the squad for years to come. To be fair, this was also said about the aforementioned five defenders. It should be noted Kitchen is presented as a defender while his teammate Steve Birnbaum who is a central defender for D.C.0 has also been brought in. Kitchen has all the opportunity and skills to succeed on the national level, but it will be how he is used that may be the determining factor.
Gyasi Zardes is a curious case. At 23 he is not even near his prime, and at 6’2″ he represents a tall, athletic forward who would pair up well with Jozy Altidore up top. He broke out this past year, scoring 19 total goals for L.A. and has had one of the best mentors in the world in Robbie Keane and to a lesser extent Landon Donovan. The Ghanian Skunk, so nicknamed by this writer because of the blonde streak in his hair allegedly put there so his grandma could identify him on the pitch, could represent either Ghana or the United States. internationally, but since he was born in California and signed on as a Homegrown player, he does seem to be leaning toward the United States. He still has a problem finishing but has an attacking flair sorely needed on the U.S. squad. His skill set and athleticism separate him from many of the other players, except for perhaps Tesho Akindele who is a good bit more raw than Zardes. Zardes has an ability that almost every other US forward lacks, that is breaking down defenders one-on-one and getting behind the back four because of his technical prowess. It is this ability to challenge defenders and succeed more than anything else that will determine if he has a breakout camp and gets minutes against Chile and Panama.
I want to believe in Luis Gil and Will Trapp but I still think that they are unproven. Luis has stagnated last year, losing his job and caught between being a central midfielder or out wide. Will has great prowess, positioning and composure but is not the most mobile, which may hamper his ability to be a complete box-to-box defender. With a good infusion of youth, returning veterans and somehow Chris Wondolowski, this camp should hopefully bear fruit for the Gold Cup and subsequent Copa America.
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