The US national team's loss at Chile on Wednesday will mostly be remembered as the night Jurgen Klinsmann chose to experiment with a 3-5-2 formation.
But for three players, the 3-2 defeat marked an entirely different kind of debut. D.C. United defender Steve Birnbaum, Columbus Crew SC midfielder Wil Trapp and LA Galaxy forward Gyasi Zardes all made their first senior international appearances on Wednesday, with Birnbaum going the full 90 and Trapp and Zardes coming on in the second half.
Birnbaum started the game on the right side of the three-man US back line, shifting to the middle when Klinsmann scrapped the 3-5-2 for a 4-4-2 at halftime. Like many of his US teammates, Birnbaum showed well for the first hour before facing more difficulty in the final 30 minutes, with the second choice in last year’s MLS SuperDraft among those slow to react on Chile’s 75th-minute game-winner.
While it was not the perfect debut, it was still a thrill for Birnbaum, who impressed in 21 regular season appearances for D.C. last season and was a finalist for the MLS Rookie of the Year award.
“It’s a great feeling,” Birnbaum said of making his USMNT debut. “Any time you get to play for your country is awesome. It was great to get the start; unfortunately we couldn’t get the win.”
Homegrown Players Trapp and Zardes did not get as much of a run as Birnbaum, but both made an impact off the bench. Trapp helped set up a Chris Wondolowski chance in the 80th minute, and Zardes had an opportunity of his own in second-half stoppage time.
Klinsmann singled out Zardes after the match, praising the 23-year-old attacker’s performance in the post-game press conference while also preaching a patient approach for all the young players on the roster.
“We try to kind of break in younger players step by step,” Klinsmann said. “It’s not going to happen overnight; they need to have more time. But I think Gyasi, he inspired things a little bit. He had a couple of shots, he made good runs.”
Birnbaum, Trapp and Zardes join a lengthy list of players to make their debut in a January camp friendly, a list that includes World Cup veterans DeAndre Yedlin (2014), Sporting Kansas City’s Matt Besler (2013) and Graham Zusi (2012), Alejandro Bedoya (2010) and Real Salt Lake’s Kyle Beckerman (2007).
The trio will look to build on their debuts on Feb. 8, when the US will close their winter camp with a friendly against Panama at StubHub Center.
“We’re looking forward to the game against Panama,” Birnbaum said. “We’ve got a week to prepare for it, and we’ve got a lot of things to look at from this game, so hopefully we can get in there and get a ‘W.’”
