For almost a full month, Jan. 5-25 the 2 dozen plus will train and have some scrimmages at the Aspire Academy, Hoha, Qatar, because why go to a place with a good human rights record. They will then retun to LA and Dignity Health Sports Park in LA for the Feb. 1 match with Costa Rica, a Concacaf rival. As the USMNT will move on in the Concacaf Nations League to the semis, this game will be a big part of the prep as will be the long camp for those June games and the World Cup Qualifiers that commence in Sept. Gregg stated "At the start of an exciting year, this is a great opportunity to continue our process and build on the foundation established in the last 12 months. We appreciate all the support and cooperation from MLS and the clubs that released their players and gave us a chance to get a head start on the challenges ahead.
The local and notables called in include:
A pair of our favorite GK's in Sean Johnson of NYCFC & Bill Hamid of DC United, Aaron Long of NY Red Bulls, Sebastian Lletget as he likes our posts every now and again of LA Galaxy, Jonathan Lewis ex NYCFC and Gyasi Zardes of the Crew due to having that streak in his hair so his grandmother may see him better on the field.
22 of the players come out of MLS, one is un affiliated and 2 from overseas, FC Dallas is best represented with a trio of players. Wolfsburg U-19 player Ulysses Llanez along with Christian Cappis of Danish SuperLiga club Hobro are the ones from elsewhere and Bryang Kayo fresh off the U-17 World Cup as a midfielder is clubless at this time, interesting.
Later this year there are a series of challenges out there for the USMNT, this will not be anywhere near a true representation of that team as they look forward to the Concacaf games and Qualifiers , added to the mix is of course, the away fixture with Holland in March. The opponent in the semis of Concacaf play will be Hondouras and the match up is slated for early June. then 3 days later, the team to come out of that game will meet up with the winner of Mexico & Costa Rica. The team hopes later to rule the HEX, a 6 team group that will enter into a series of round robin matches for the 3 bids out of this region to the World Cup. The half dozen competing for those spots will be clear by the June FIFA rankings, and games will be played on double-dates in the Sept., Oct. & Nov. FIFA windows. As they had prior to the South Africa and Brazilian hosted World Cups, the US is going to Qatar to get a taste of the facilities, climate etc. by making a years early visit and play games.
Kwik Kixx:
- avg. age at camp 23 years 83 days and 8 caps
- a full dozen, just under half are uncapped with 18 having 8 or less
- Zardes is tops with 55 caps among 5 with more than 15
- 14 are age eligible for the 2020 Concacar Olympic Qualifying Championship in March, the USMNT has missed the last pair of Olympics
- 6 are in their first senior team camp
- 4 just completed play in the 2019 U-20 World Cup, reaching the quaterfinals
- Cappis was featured in19 out of 20 games for Hobro this past year, with a pair of assists
- Ferreira is fresh off a red hot year with Dallas FC with 8 goals to go with half a dozen assists, the Colombian born son of ex-Dallas forward David he became a US citizen Dec. 16
- 2019 had Sam Vines in 27 games for the just completed MLS season with his Colorado Rapids
- Bill Hamid is back in his first camp since June 2018
- The pair out of LA Galaxy, Lletget & Julian Araujo will have the Costa Rica game at their home stadium.