ASN: Birnbaum Assured He Can ‘Do His Factor’ with USMNT

The 23-year-old California native parlayed a breakout rookie season with D.C. United right into a call-up with the U.S. nationwide staff. ASN’s Brian Sciaretta spoke to the spectacular central defender.

BY

Brian Sciaretta

Posted
January 20, 2015
9:46 AM

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CAMP IS UNDERWAY for the USA nationwide staff, and the roster assembled in Carson, Calif., options many younger gamers attempting to catch Jurgen Klinsman’s eye and to earn a spot on subsequent yr’s U-23 Olympic staff.

Every year, nevertheless, there are at the least a couple of gamers to who use the camp as a springboard to grow to be common members of the total nationwide staff. Final yr it was DeAndre Yedlin who turned January camp right into a recurring function with the senior staff; in years previous Graham Zusi, Matt Besler, and Geoff Cameron all did the identical.

This yr D.C. United central defender Steve Birnbuam is aiming to be amongst those that transfer into Klinsmann’s plans for this summer season’s Gold Cup and past. Taking a look at what he completed in his rookie season, he would appear to have pretty much as good an opportunity as any to stay with the staff.

“Birnbaum is an absolute stud,” D.C. United head coach Ben Olsen told the media ahead of a game in October. “I can’t imagine the way in which he performs week in, week out at his age.”

Certainly, after being drafted with the second general decide within the 2014 MLS SuperDraft, Birnbaum ultimately labored his approach into United’s beginning lineup and was an integral a part of the staff’s outstanding turnaround. The staff managed simply three wins in 2013; it completed first within the Jap Convention in 2014.

Birnbaum was a finalist for Main League Soccer’s Rookie of the 12 months award however narrowly misplaced to FC Dallas ahead Tesho Akindele. Each gamers earned a fair higher prize: their first call-ups to the USA nationwide staff.

Birnbaum, ranked No. 64 within the newest ASN 100, is aware of his first nationwide staff camp might be aggressive and intense, however he’s each appreciative of the chance and assured he’ll take advantage of it.

“I always want to be the best at what I am doing,” Birnbaum advised American Soccer now simply previous to the opening of camp. “I’m a reasonably aggressive man. I don’t assume I ought to set my objectives something in need of being on the World Cup squad.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better situation in D.C.,” he added. “To be called into the national team has always been dream of mine. I feel pretty lucky to be in the situation that I am in right now. They had a great support group to get me into this position to do my thing.”

A yr in the past, Birnbaum was anticipated to be among the many high alternatives within the MLS draft after a formidable profession on the College of California-Berkeley. Attributable to an harm in 2012, he ended up staying at California for 5 years and was 23-years-old by the beginning of his first skilled season.

With MLS academies rising and extra high prospects selecting the homegrown participant route, Birnbaum was older than most MLS rookies final yr, and he is OK with that. In truth, he felt that his maturity helped him deal with the calls for of the skilled sport.

“It depends on each person’s situation but I think for me it was a great decision to stay in school as long as I did,” Birnbaum mentioned. “I had a fantastic coach in Kevin Grimes and he taught me easy methods to be an expert at Cal so I used to be ready to be an expert participant. It is determined by the particular person however for me it was the very best resolution I may have made.

“You undergo all of the ups and downs and also you discover ways to cope with them. After I received the decision to begin for my first D.C. United sport, I felt ready with all of the conditions that have been taking place round me. I sort of simply carried out and did my factor.”

All through most of final season Birnbaum was partnered with Bobby Boswell in central protection, and the pair flourished. Birnbaum earned a reputation for himself and Boswell landed on the MLS Greatest XI staff for the primary time since 2006. Boswell remembers that after Birnbaum fought by an preliminary adjustment interval, his rookie companion quickly started to excel.

“I think he’s an experienced guy even though he was a rookie,” Boswell advised ASN. “He was 23. He did not have the youth of most rookies. That may be a praise, not a foul factor. He was past his years by way of what individuals consider as a rookie. For me, he has all of those bodily instruments which might be actually good. At our place the toughest factor to get is expertise. When you get extra expertise you, actually develop as a participant. He had a fantastic yr. He was in a position to study on the fly.

“In terms of his ceiling, that is to be determined. But he has all of the natural tools,” Boswell added. “He is quick, he can leap, he may be bodily, maybe his greatest [attribute] is his work charge—how arduous he works every day in and time out. He is solely going to get higher.

“I’ve played with a lot of national team centerbacks and he definitely has the pedigree for it.”

Regardless of his rising repute as a high MLS defender, Birnbaum has by no means actually been a staple of U.S. youth nationwide groups. The Irvine, Calif., native attended a couple of U.S. U-18 and U-20 camps however was by no means a part of a significant match or was a staple of U.S. Soccer’s youth nationwide staff growth.

“I all the time wished to be a daily in these squads,” Birnbaum said. “I wasn’t upset about it however clearly I wished to be part of them.

For now, Birnbaum is concentrated on the current and making essentially the most out of the weeks forward. He admits that it caught him unexpectedly when Jurgen Klinsmann referred to as to ask him to camp.

Now, his expectations have modified.

“In the course of the season I didn’t assume an excessive amount of about” a call-up, Birnbaum mentioned. “I used to be attempting not to consider it in any respect actually—I used to be simply targeted on what we have been doing within the season. Then I heard there have been talks about it and that perhaps I’d be concerned in camp. I believed it was a protracted shot to be sincere.

“When the decision got here I couldn’t have been extra excited.”

Brian Sciaretta is an American Soccer Now columnist and an ASN 100 panelist. Observe him on Twitter.