Klinsmann trains eye on Cameron
by Martek on Dec 22, 2011 1:36 PM CST
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The Houston Dynamo announced today that centerback Geoff Cameron has been called into the US Men's National Team's annual January camp. This is a whole bundle of good news, the main piece being that the knee injury Cameron sustained in the first half of MLS Cup, the one that kept him from clearing Landon Donovan's chip for the game-winner (and we all know that absent the injury, that would have been cleared, right? Right?), has been healed quickly and fully.
Which of course brings up the issue of Brad Davis, who once again has been passed over. Is this related to the quadriceps injury he got in Kansas City during the Eastern Final? Or is our captain once again getting short shrift from the Nats? What do you think? Personally, I'm thinking it's more the former, but sadly, the latter wouldn;t surprise me either.
Here is the full roster for the camp:
USMNT JANUARY CAMP ROSTER
GOALKEEPERS: Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS: Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo), A.J. DeLaGarza (LA Galaxy), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), George John (FC Dallas), Zach Loyd (FC Dallas), Michael Parkhurst (FC Nordsjaelland), Heath Pearce (Chivas USA)
MIDFIELDERS: Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Ricardo Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt), Benny Feilhaber (New England Revolution), Jeff Larentowicz (Colorado Rapids), Brek Shea (FC Dallas), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)
FORWARDS: Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Teal Bunbury (Sporting Kansas City), C.J. Sapong (Sporting Kansas City), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)
So I'm perusing the midfield selections, seeing just who it was who took Davis' spot, and what do I find, but none other than Kyle Beckerman, who I think made useless a into a passe word in the November games, and Ricardo "Boot of Justice" Clark. My Dynamo Orange heart is thrilled at Rico getting the chance to redeem himself in the Red, White and Blue. However, it makes me wonder just what a player has to do to get called into these camps. I follow Eintracht Frankfurt for one reason and one reason only, and that is to see how Rico is doing over there in the 2. Bundesliga. And I find that Rico would probably be an expert as to how things are going in that league, because he gets an AWFUL lot of time watching it from the sidelines. So why again is he in the January camp? I thought you had to, you know, actually play a game every now and again. Apparently not.
In any event, here's the Dynamo's release on Cameron being called up:
Dynamo center back Geoff Cameron called up to U.S. men's national team
Cameron to report to camp on January 3
HOUSTON, TX (Thursday, December 22, 2011) - Houston Dynamo center back Geoff Cameron has been called into camp with the United States men's national team in preparation for its January friendlies against Venezuela and Panama, U.S. Soccer announced today. Cameron will join the U.S. squad for training camp in Phoenix, Ariz., beginning on January 3.
This is Cameron's first call-up under head coach Jürgen Klinsmann and his fourth call-up overall. Cameron participated in the previous two January camps and last year's February camp under former head coach Bob Bradley and made his international debut on Feb. 24, 2010, in a 2-1 win over El Salvador.
"It feels really good to be able to get the opportunity to play for your country," Cameron said. "I am very fortunate to get called up and now I just need to take the next step."
Cameron, 26, started 33 regular season matches last season for Houston and tallied five goals and five assists en route to his second MLS All-Star appearance. The Massachusetts-native played every minute of all four playoff games as the Dynamo reached the MLS Cup final and posted a 334-minute shutout streak. Cameron began the year as a central midfielder before moving to the center back position for the final two months of the season.
Cameron will report to Phoenix where he will train with the national team at Athletes' Performance from January 3-13. The squad will then head to The Home Depot Center, in Carson, Calif., to train from Jan. 13-19, before heading back to Arizona for a Jan. 21 friendly against Venezuela at University of Phoenix Stadium. The team will wrap up the camp with a friendly on Jan. 25 against Panama at Estadio Rommel Fernandez in Panama City.
Following the Panama match, Cameron will rejoin the Dynamo in Houston for the beginning of preseason.
So Geoff is going to get a game against Venezuela (four days before the Venezuelans come to Houston to play Mexico at Reliant) and another in Panama. Nice. Of course, the last time he played for the US was this game against El Salvador in Feb. 2010. Davis actually started that game, while Captain Kameamea Brian Ching had a goal and an assist. But if you follow the video all the way to the end, you see Cameron put a very late chance JUST over the bar. So that game was almost Houston Dynamo 2 (plus Kljestan), El Salvador 1.
What do you think of the January roster?
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Good for Cam, he deserves it
And hopefully this is JK starting to see where the future of US CBs should be, not the old decrepit version we’ve been running into the ground for the last decade.
-- "...I was sick, napping, and then woke up and came to the computer to read a note from the Gingered Angel of Doom..." Martek - Dynamo Theory Blog
I wouldn’t call Beckerman’s play useless in the middle. It’s hard to shine from the defensive midfield position. However, I don’t see what’s all the fuss about Bill Hamid. Sean Johnson is much better.
As far as Rico goes, I think JK feels for the guy after he got shat on by the whole country for the Ghana game and he wants to give him a shot.
I’m glad Benny’s back in the picture- I think he’ll work well under JK’s system along with Cam.
Unfortunately for Brad I think he may have missed the boat on the national team because of his age. He was just born either too soon or too late in time to get into the right 4 year cycle.
Or cuz he's injured
JK wants to get away from the whole cross from the wings or play it long thing, and unfortunately that is Brad’s game. However, on set pieces, he would be a magical (and very useful) addition.
But I think Klinny would’ve given him a shot just to see what he had left, had he not been injured in the playoff push.
My 0.02 worth.
-- "...I was sick, napping, and then woke up and came to the computer to read a note from the Gingered Angel of Doom..." Martek - Dynamo Theory Blog
I agree with that
Brad Davis probably would have gotten a shot if he had not been injured. Brad Davis has played better after each season – no reason he can’t keep it up for a few more years.
Oh and I’ve always wondered why over the past few years the US has had terrible set piece delivery. Under Bradley he loved tall defenders for extra attack on set pieces and the stars and stripes have converted a good number of those, but imagine if someone like Davis had been on the other end of the many crosses, free kicks, and corners that resulted in nothing. Right now there is no better set piece taker for the US than Brad Davis – second is probably Stuart Holden. I always face palm when I see Landon Donovan taking a kick.
+100
Exactly…any time the US gets a free kick that’s when I typically go to top off a drink or excuse myself to the little boys’ room since I know nothing will come of it. Davis would change that but I get why he’s not called up…not thrilled about it but hopefully, hopefully he’ll get his number called at the next opportunity when he’s back in health
But then, it begs the question
If Brad Davis is as good as we all know he is on free kicks and corners, if he almost single-handledly carried an entire MLS team to the Conference Finals on mostly set piece goals…then how can you ignore that productivity? Why not bring him in around the 80th minute, or in stoppage time, when a single goal off a set piece can be enough to win the game?
To me, it makes sense to have him, even if just on the bench for the majority of the game, just to have that one set piece player who can change the entire outcome of the game with one kick.
-- "...I was sick, napping, and then woke up and came to the computer to read a note from the Gingered Angel of Doom..." Martek - Dynamo Theory Blog
Wish I had that answer
listen, you’re preaching to the choir on this one. Like I said, I get why he wasn’t picked – and depending on your level of cynicism, either his injury was the reason or was simply a cover – but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t be a difference-maker. Let’s be honest, for most of his career why has Beckham been employed? He’s a beast on set-pieces and the delivery of his crosses. So why isn’t the American answer to Beckham not been selected to the national team? Part of it was the previous regime’s team philosophy (and frankly, I’m not even going to go there right now…holiday season and all), part was…I don’t know. I mean, with all the big bodies we tend to produce you’re telling me a few of them couldn’t have been on the receiving end of a great cross or set-piece delivery? Let’s face it, we’re no Barcelona and we’re not going to be known for clever play and slipping a though-ball like no one’s business that splits opposing defenses. Maybe in another 5-10 years but certainly not now. We’re going to continue to be a direct-play national team because primarily that’s what most of our domestic players have been used to. So why not go with a premier player who can help maximize that direct approach? I feel that for years we’ve been doing the square-peg-round-hole thing with our national team: since we’ve been exposed to other styles and systems we WANT to be like that – and for good reason – but we’ve yet to systematically develop players and a philosophy that can pull it off. So until that day comes we’re going to be a more or less direct-play national team…with some flair added in for good measure. Like you, I don’t see why you couldn’t bring in Davis in the 70th minute of a match where you want to either equalize or tack on another goal.
I’ll shut up now as I can go for ages on the whole USMNT thing…I’ll just say I hope everyone had a good Christmas :)
I want to give Klinnsy some praise for trying to define or etch out definite style for the US
So far it has been our style to be pretty well equipped defensively and use target forwards or big defensive bodies to score. The US team can one day stand up to a team like Spain and the next fall to a team like Costa Rica. There is inconsistency to say the least – if the defense doesn’t show up or the manager selects a weaker side we open the flood gates and our forward pool has been extremely thin as of late.
Trying to define momentum and run of play in the midst of a defense looking to regain ground and slim pickin’ when it comes to forwards isn’t easy. This is especially true considering the US pool has players in leagues with vastly different styles. To me, success in style of play should combine the physicality of an English side, the ability to produce goals through the counter attack a la Germany, and very good at short, tight passing like Mexico.
How does Brad Davis fit in? He is an amazing passer whether short or long, has proven amazing at being able to counter attack through clever balls and even the occasional goal, and a strong defensive (probably a large side) would benefit from his set piece delivery. At the very least he would be an instrumental piece in helping get a US squad from where we are now to where we want to be.
Oh and Geoff Cameron would fit in well with that style also
with his ability to move forward from the back and distribute
Fair play
and actually I wrote about the USMNT style under Klinnsy, I was just simply pointing out that considering that for the most part we still are a direct-play team Davis fits into that perfectly…and likewise since while we still are mostly direct-play Klinnsy is trying to change that to a more tactical and technical team. He’s selecting players that provide flexibility and I’m not being a homer when I say that Davis & Cameron provide that as well. Yes, Davis is no defensive ace as a midfielder but he certainly does work hard off the ball; his biggest assets, of course, are his delivery and passes. And frankly we’ve been in dire need of that for quite some time.
I’ll simply say that while we’re in this transition I dearly hope to see Davis feature…as you said so aptly, “…he would be an instrumental piece in helping get a US squad from where we are now to where we want to be” and I couldn’t agree more.
Tinman
Looking at the history of the German national team, the gunslinger will want to play came Cameron. Hope cam will remember that he is a defender first.
Go Dynamo
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