ASN: Orange County and U.S. U-20 defender Kobi Henry seeking to impress with USMNT

Kobi Henry is without doubt one of the shocking names on the USMNT December roster however the Orange County defender arrives in camp after a USL title with Orange County and powerful U.S. U-20 camp. ASN’s Brian Sciaretta spoke with Henry about his previous main as much as the call-up and his targets for the longer term.

BY

Brian Sciaretta

Posted
December 10, 2021
5:10 AM

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THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL workforce is at present assembled in California for a uncommon December camp and the roster has youthful taste with eight gamers additionally eligible for U.S. U-20 workforce that can try to qualify for each the 2023 U-20 World Cup and the 2024 Olympics. Amongst these gamers is Kobi Henry.

Henry, 17, was among the many extra shocking roster alternatives however the central defender arrived in camp on the heels of a strong camp with the U.S. U-20 workforce in addition to being a member of the Orange County SC workforce that received the USL Championship title on November 28.

Shortly afterward, he acquired a name from Gregg Berhalter telling him that he was referred to as up for the camp that can conclude with a pleasant towards Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Henry didn’t play within the USL remaining, however he completed the season with 19 appearances, 16 begins, and 1494 minutes within the USL Championship. Orange County constructed their success on a mix of youth and veteran management – significantly on the backline which is anchored by former U.S. nationwide workforce defender Michael Orozco, former Rangers heart again Rob Kiernan, and former New England Revolution fullback Kevin Alston.

“Playing in the USL has been a great learning experience for me. I think it’s definitely a very tough league to play in and it’s really physical,” Henry stated of USL. You must discover ways to not solely be proficient however play sensible…It is a actually aggressive league and particularly with our run all through the playoffs, I simply acquired to expertise what it feels wish to be a champion, as most individuals my age could not say.”

In fact a part of what drove Henry to signal for Orange County was his want to go to Europe and the membership has labored with different younger gamers like Bryang Kayo (now at Viktoria Berlin on mortgage from Wolfsburg) to assist them transfer overseas at an earlier age. Henry was beforehand within the youth set-up at Inter Miami however felt Orange County provided him the trail he was in search of.

“I was in Miami and it was a great club,” Henry defined. “I was treated very well, but I knew that I have a passion to go to Europe in the future. MLS is a really good league but I I’ve just grown up watching Premier League every weekend with my brother.”

“Orange County has the pathway to Pro, where they could send the young players out on different trials and there is connection with Rangers,” he added. “That was dream – as well as having the personnel on the team and veterans such as Michael Orozco and Rob Kiernan – just learning from those players. It just drew my attention and it certainly played out to have gone in my favor. I’ve learned a lot from those guys.”

Rising up, Henry lived in almost 10 completely different locations together with his mother and father, each lecturers, shifting continuously. He was born in Florida however has additionally lived in locations reminiscent of New York, New Jersey, and even Bermuda.

Whereas shifting round continuously, soccer has all the time been a continuing theme in his life as the game runs in his household. His father performed semiprofessionally and his brother, Jazz Henry, is a ahead on the lads’s workforce at Occidental School in Los Angeles. His mom ran observe. Maybe most apparently, his grandfather, Ken Henry, was the previous energy and conditioning coach for the Trinidad & Tobago nationwide workforce and was on the employees in 1989 when the USA nationwide workforce registered a historic 1-0 win over Trinidad & Tobago to qualify for the 1990 World Cup.

Subsequent yr, nonetheless, can be an enormous yr for him as he turns 18 and can be eligible to make a transfer abroad. There’s additionally the U.S. U-20 workforce and Henry is predicted to be within the plans for brand spanking new head coach Mikey Varas. Final month, Henry was a part of the workforce’s first camp of the cycle in Mexico the place they misplaced to Brazil 4-0, drew Colombia 1-1, and misplaced to Mexico 2-1.

The workforce had a makeshift nature throughout that camp as lots of the gamers had by no means performed collectively on condition that many of the youth nationwide groups had been inactive since January 2020 as a result of COVID. Varas was solely employed two days earlier than the workforce travelled for Mexico and was additionally attending to know the workforce.

“Despite the results, I actually think that the trip was a success,” Henry stated. “Simply because I imagine that as a gaggle from the primary day to the final day, simply how we operated as a workforce – there was only a huge distinction. We grew collectively as a household. We acquired to understand how every others taking part in fashion and sure issues like that, what kind of gamers persons are. So I believe it was event to be able to construct a basis for the U-20 cycle. If we get just a little bit extra follow in and perceive the ways, we can be an actual risk.”

“[Mikey Varas] is a really good communicator and made sure to talk to every single player and have a good relationship with all of us,” he added. “It was definitely a comfortable environment and it was easier to go in and play our game.”

With one other U-20 camp going down subsequent month and with huge a part of the workforce’s core with the present U.S. workforce, it’s a precedence. For now, nonetheless, he’s comfortable to be surrounded by lots of the full nationwide workforce’s veterans and be taught from them.

Arriving in camp after taking part in with the U.S. U-20 workforce and successful a USL title with Orange County, he feels as if he’s in an excellent place to being taking essential steps on hte worldwide stage.

“Being a champion so early in my career, it just gives me a real confidence boost and it allows me to have standards of where my mentality should be going forward,” Henry stated. “That I should always hold myself to a higher standard because I’ve been with a team that has won a championship.”