CARSON , Calif. – The idea behind the US national team's annual January camp could be changing, and head coach Jurgen Klinsmann suggested that next year's gathering could be used as preparation for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Klinsmann wasn't pleased with the fitness level of his players in this year's camp, which concluded with Sunday's 2-0 victory over Panama at StubHub Center, and said after the loss nearly two weeks ago in Chile that the “preseason” approach to the camp didn't make sense when there were two friendlies involved.
He was asked in his postgame news conference Sunday about the future of the camp and what he'd like to do to change it.
“The January camp itself would be a discussion we [in U.S. Soccer] would have,” Klinsmann replied. “Do we keep it this way? Because next year, obviously, we want to be qualified for the Olympics. This is huge. So do we make next year [an Under-23] camp?
“That could be the way that we approach it. And then schedule the senior-team guys differently to start their preseason, so we will discuss that. And it's based on what's happening in the year 2016. Once we sit back and talk through all of it, pros and cons, we'll figure it out. But it could be very well an Olympic team camp next January.”
The camp has traditionally served as preseason for MLS- and Scandinavian-based players, with many players seeing their first time in a U.S. Soccer program as reward for an outstanding season the previous year. Too many players arrived in Southern California this year needing to build their fitness base, according to Klinsmann, and he believes that stymied the progress he hoped to make and contributed to the second-half collapse in the 3-2 loss to Chile on Jan. 28.
Klinsmann addressed this in a conversation with ESPNFC.com ahead of the Panama game.
“Maybe we have to rethink the approach and say that it's not fair to them,” he told the web site. “Maybe we leave the friendly games out. But if they don't have friendly games on the agenda, they don't really have a goal to work for, and we don't have any benchmark to see where they are. ...
“Coming off the offseason and trying to get them up to speed playing international games, it's simply not doable. So we'll figure out now when this thing is done what is the best way to go forward with this January camp.”
