Since the United States has already qualified for the 2014 World Cup and since Jürgen Klinsmann is frequently fond of talking about throwing players into the cold water, he might as well use the upcoming World Cup qualifiers to let the new or young talents in the player pool join the Polar Bear Club with swan dives and cannonballs.
As the United States Men’s National Team has already qualified for the 2013 World Cup, Klinsmann should use the final two World Cup qualifiers to test the player pool, in order to see who should start or be on the roster with the U.S.’ strongest players like Tim Howard, Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones, Geoff Cameron, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore, and Aron Jóhannsson.
On the other hand, another coaching philosophy would be to use a mixture of the best of the most-proven players with new players.
World Soccer Source proposes calling up the following players to test out the depth and talent of the American player pool:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad GUZAN, Nick RIMANDO, Clint IRWIN
CENTER BACKS (4): John Anthony BROOKS, Shane O’NEILL, Andrew FARRELL, Amobi OKUGO
OUTSIDE BACKS (4): Chris KLUTE, DeAndre YEDLIN, Kofi SARKODIE, Kellyn ACOSTA
DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS (3): Geoff CAMERON, Perry KITCHEN, Jared JEFFREY
ATTACKING MIDFIELDERS (5): Joe Benny CORONA, Mix DISKERUD, Benji JOYA, Alonso HERNANDEZ, José VILLARREAL
FORWARDS (4): Juan AGUDELO, Terrence BOYD, Mario RODRIGUEZ, Gyasi ZARDES
USMNT Starting XI Proposal:
Guzan; Yedlin/Farrell, O’Neill, Brooks, Klute; Cameron, Joya; Corona, Hernandez, Diskerud; Agudelo/Boyd.
NOTES:
Since the United States has already qualified for the 2014 World Cup, there’s no reason to call up Tim Howard, Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Fabian Johnson, Jozy Altidore, or Aron Jóhannsson because all of these players have thoroughly demonstrated an ability to perform at the highest level.
These October World Cup qualifiers should be used to test out newer players who have demonstrated a real potential to possibly improve the United States Men’s National Team.
Geoff Cameron, Andrew Farrell, Amobi Okugo, and Shane O’Neill play at least one more position than where they’ve been designated in the roster listed above. Cameron, Farrell, and O’Neill play center back, outside back, and defensive midfielder, whereas Okugo plays as a center back or as a defensive midfielder.
Since Cameron could use some minutes as a defensive midfielder with the national team, World Soccer Source has proposed calling him up to this roster, which is without many of the regular U.S. starters.
Gyasi Zardes is a striker that has been frequently playing as a wing for the LA Galaxy this season, and José Villarreal can play as a second striker or as an attacking midfielder.
Proven-performers like Benny Feilhaber, Jonathan Spector, Eric Lichaj, and Freddy Adu fall into a different category than the players listed above as players who have performed at the highest level under Klinsmann because Feilhaber, Spector, Lichaj, and Adu are players Klinsmann has simply frozen out of the national team without a clear reason, even when he needed them.
The point of these October World Cup qualifiers should be to see who should start with players like Geoff Cameron, Jermaine Jones, Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore, and Aron Jóhannsson.
The United States needs a right back, a left back, a center back, and a playmaker, but the United States also needs to know the best group of 23 players and the best Starting XI. There’s no way to learn these things without testing out players in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers and friendlies, and the United States has already qualified for the 2014 World Cup, which allows Klinsmann to focus on evaluating players more than the result of the games.