Klinsmann trains eye on Cameron

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?