ASN: What Jurgen Klinsmann Mentioned, and What We Heard

Jurgen Klinsmann had a lot to say concerning the upcoming pleasant in opposition to Mexico and the 2014 World Cup, however that did not cease us from studying between the strains. Here is John Godfrey’s tackle Klinsmann’s take.

BY

John Godfrey

Posted
March 26, 2014
7:30 PM

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT, United States nationwide workforce coach Jurgen Klinsmann introduced his 22-man roster for the April 2 pleasant in opposition to Mexico in Glendale, Ariz. (11 p.m. Japanese; ESPN, UniMas). As anticipated, it is comprised totally of Main League Soccer and Liga MX gamers, and the three Tijuana candidates—Joe Corona, Edgar Castillo, and Herculez Gomez—had been left off the workforce due to their CONCACAF Champions League commitments.

Luis Gil and DeAndre Yedlin made the squad. Benny Feilhaber, Jose Torres, and Mike Magee had been neglected. In case you had been hoping for a shock choice—a Jack McInerney, maybe, or a Will Bruin or a Dax McCarty—you are out of luck. (And so are they.)

Here is the complete squad, which is prone to symbolize about half of the 23-man workforce that travels to Brazil in June.

GOALKEEPERS: Invoice Hamid (D.C. United), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fireplace), Nick Rimando (Actual Salt Lake)

DEFENDERS: DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas Metropolis), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Clarence Goodson (San Jose Earthquakes), Michael Orozco (Puebla), Michael Parkhurst (Columbus Crew), DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle Sounders FC)

MIDFIELDERS: Kyle Beckerman (Actual Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Philadelphia Union), Luis Gil (Actual Salt Lake), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas Metropolis)

FORWARDS: Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Julian Inexperienced (Bayern Munich), Eddie Johnson (D.C. United), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)

As typically occurs, the U.S. Soccer Federation launched an in-house interview with Klinsmann together with the roster. Klinsmann’s quotes under are actual. Our interpretations are additionally actual—and totally unauthorized.

On the stress to make the World Cup

What Jurgen Klinsmann Mentioned: “Everyone knows the clock is ticking and that they need to impress in those games with their club, and the only way you can impress is if you play from the beginning on. So the players have a sense of urgency now. With whomever I communicate, whether it’s a text message or on the phone, I hear from the players that know they have to step it up. We have players who shoot us an email or a text real quick asking if there’s something additional they can do, which they should. We give them the input right away.”

What We Heard: “If you’re playing in North America and your first name isn’t “Joe,” “Edgar,” or “Herculez,” you can go ahead and book that summer trip to the Seychelles. These are my guys.”

On expectations for this group

What Klinsmann Mentioned: “What we expect is that they show a really strong performance against a Mexican team that is now basically coming back on track. They went the difficult route against New Zealand to qualify as the fourth-place team in CONCACAF. They got their lessons in 2013, very harsh lessons that they had, many coaching changes, and now they want to get back on track. There’s nothing better than doing that against their main rival the United States. So we really have to be on our toes. We’ll make sure everybody is on board, and they’ll have a point to prove because we are only a couple weeks away from deciding on the 23 guys that go to Brazil.”

CREATE YOUR OWN U.S. STARTING XI FOR MEXICO MATCH

What We Heard: “Brad Evans is going to get 45 minutes to show me he is a viable option at right back. If he can’t, he’s out. Michael Parkhurst is in the exact same position. Omar looks like he’s sleepwalking out there for L.A. He needs to step it up—otherwise, he might be watching from the sidelines as Clarence starts against Ghana. Maurice needs to show he is ready to dominate in the midfield. He has fallen behind a lot of guys, and it’s going to take something special for him to reclaim his spot. Chris—he needs to score two goals per game, every game, between now and May.”

On the problem going through his gamers

What Klinsmann Mentioned: “They need to prove now that they badly want to go to Brazil. Therefore, it’s going to be a tense couple of days. It’s going to be a test for what they can expect going into our World Cup preparations because it’s performing at the right time. It’s about understanding that they have to be tough now. It’s not about slowly getting into a rhythm, it’s about showing if you deserve to get into this World Cup roster. In that way, it will be a little bit different camp. It will be measured different because it’s the last game before we go into World Cup preparations. Therefore we tell the players from day one when they come in on Sunday to step it up.”

What We Heard: “They need to prove now that they badly want to go to Brazil. Therefore, it’s going to be a tense couple of days. It’s going to be a test for what they can expect going into our World Cup preparations because it’s performing at the right time. It’s about understanding that they have to be tough now. It’s not about slowly getting into a rhythm, it’s about showing if you deserve to get into this World Cup roster. In that way, it will be a little bit different camp. It will be measured different because it’s the last game before we go into World Cup preparations. Therefore we tell the players from day one when they come in on Sunday to step it up.”

On Michael Bradley’s return to the workforce
What Klinsmann Mentioned: “It’s just great seeing Michael Bradley there on the field showing everybody how good of a player he is. He had to be stitched up a bit after that clash, but he had a good performance. It’s very important to us that our leaders in our group are really getting a rhythm and getting games in. Seeing Michael back on the field and the others as well is really important.”

What We Heard: “Don’t get me started. He should have been in Cyprus with the rest of us.”

On CONCACAF Champions League outcomes
What Klinsmann Mentioned:
“All of our three MLS teams lost against Mexican opponents. That was a big bummer for us and gives us a lot of questions to be answered on how can we avoid that next time.”
What We Heard: “My top guys are abandoning Europe to play in MLS and the league can’t get past Tijuana and Cruz A-Fricking-Zul? Last year I had guys playing for Schalke and Tottenham and Roma. What the hell happened? I think I’m going to take the helicopter out for a spin just to clear my head. Catalina maybe. Or Borrego Springs.”

On Julian Inexperienced’s one-time swap to affix the U.S.
What Klinsmann Mentioned: “Julian is very ambitious. He knows about his qualities. He knows about the club where he trains every day with Arjen Robben, with Franck Ribery, with big players who are on the big stage for a long period of time. I think he has the confidence to come in and say, ‘If the coach gives me the chance to play there, I want to show him that I want to go to Brazil.’”
What We Heard: “I’ve got 8-10 guys who should be playing in top European leagues and they choose to play in MLS instead. I don’t get it. Julian may just be a kid, but he is a Champions League player and he plays for Bayern Munich. He’ll be in Sao Paolo, even if it’s just to send a message to the rest of the guys. Don’t settle! Ever! ”

On Maurice Edu’s return to the nationwide workforce

“We’re looking for Mo to show us that sense of urgency. We’re looking forward to having Mo back with us because once he’s in a rhythm, once he is fit and really zoomed in, then he’s a very good player.”

What We Heard: “Mo needs to have the game of his life against Mexico. It’s up to him.”

That is what John Godfrey heard. What did you hear? Inform us under.