23 For January Camp
What? Klinsi Ought to Name Juan Agudelo? Completely
The 22-year-old’s daring—and overly optimistic—try to play within the English Premier League got here up brief, stunting his improvement. However Jurgen Klinsmann may throw Agudelo a much-needed lifeline.
BY
John Godfrey
Posted
December 31, 2014
12:50 PM
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Editors be aware: A bunch of ASN staffers created a 23-man roster for the January U.S. nationwide group camp, and with this submit our roster is now full. These usually are not our predictions—these are the gamers we wish to see named to Jurgen Klinsmann’s squad.
I’M NOT GOING TO MINCE WORDS: I really feel sorry for Juan Agudelo.
It is solely potential that the 21-year-old striker thought he was doing the fitting factor—following a path his nationwide group coach needed him to take—when he left Main League Soccer and signed on with Stoke Metropolis of the English Premier League.
However when Agudelo didn’t safe a U.Okay. work allow, Stoke loaned the Colombia native to FC Utrecht the place he scored three targets over 14 video games. Agudelo made a second try to get a British work allow, however when that was denied Utrecht parted firm with the ahead. He had an October trial with Wolverhampton however the English Championship membership determined to move, citing his lack of health.
All instructed, Agudelo hasn’t performed skilled soccer since Could. It is a horrible state of affairs for a promising younger striker who pushed himself to compete on the highest stage.
It is secure to say that Agudelo has not precisely earned a call-up to January camp primarily based on his current type, however Jurgen Klinsmann ought to carry him in nonetheless. It could ship a really loud message that the U.S. coach acknowledges and rewards gamers who’re keen to step out of their consolation zones and push the envelope.
Klinsmann has finished so earlier than—most notably with Brek Shea, one other MLS-er who tried his luck abroad and didn’t catch on. Klinsmann named Shea to a number of U.S. nationwide group rosters though he was barely enjoying membership soccer. The world did not crash to a halt again then, and neither will it if Agudelo joins the senior group subsequent month.
And apart from—the stakes are extremely low at this cut-off date. It is a January camp within the 12 months following a World Cup. The group would not have a pleasant for 4 weeks. And even when he would not see a minute of motion in opposition to Chile (1/28) or Panama (2/8), a month of intensive coaching would undoubtedly profit Agudelo as he maps out a profession plan for 2015 and past.
Agudelo wants the increase. Do it, Jurgen.
ASN’s January roster
1. Tesho Akindele
2. Lee Nguyen
3. Robbie Rogers
4. Matt Besler
5. Gyasi Zardes6. Invoice Hamid
7. Matt Hedges
8. Luis Gil
9. Steve Clark
10. Charlie Davies
11. Perry Kitchen
12. Andrew Farrell
13. Miguel Ibarra
14. Jermaine Jones
15. Clint Dempsey
16. Kelyn Rowe
17. Graham Zusi
18. Omar Gonzalez
19. Sean Johnson
20. Wil Trapp
21. Combine Diskerud
22. Michael Parkhurst
23. Juan Agudelo
That is our squad—please inform us what you suppose. We saved our listing to 23 however it is extremely probably that Klinsmann will carry in additional than that quantity. We left off Michael Bradley as a result of he underwent foot surgical procedure in late October, and as beforehand talked about we did not contemplate Chris Wondolowski, Nick Rimando, Brad Davis, or Kyle Beckerman for this roster as a result of 1) they’re effectively into their 30s and a pair of) Klinsmann already is aware of what every of them can do.
The oldsters we did contemplate who simply missed out embody Steve Birnbaum, Chris Schuler, Dillon Powers, Chad Marshall, Jack McInerney, Maurice Edu, and Amobi Okugo.
John Godfrey is the founder and editor in chief of American Soccer Now.
