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 The U.S. lost 2-1 in extra-time on Tuesday and although Klinsmann
praised the effort and spirit of his team during the tournament his
thoughts have quickly turned to refreshing the squad with new faces.
“This transition year coming up is definitely the opportunity to
bring a lot of young players through the ranks and see what they are
capable to do,” the German told a farewell news conference at the
team’s base on Wednesday.
Klinsmann said he would be discussing with age-group coaches the
likely contenders to move up from the youth squads into the full
team.
The U.S. World Cup squad featuring several players who will be in
the mid-thirties in four years time.
Forward Clint Dempsey, midfielders Kyle Beckerman and Jermaine Jones
and full back DaMarcus Beasley are all in their thirties but
Klinsmann said that while he wanted to see new faces it would not be
a case of swiftly abandoning older players.
“There is no ‘thank you and bye’ it is always defined by performance
what you bring to the table," he said.
"I think a good thing about going into the next year is that we have
the opportunity to see a lot of young players, coming into our
platform in the senior team. We can give them the time to show where
they are at right now.
“The experienced players, or older players, we can tell them now for
the next couple of months, play in your club environment. We know
you inside-out anyway, we know what you bring to the table,"
Klinsmann added.
“Maybe there is the time now with the next couple of friendlies that
are coming up and over the next year, (to) see the young players
grow and see how far they can make it,” he said.
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NEW OPTIONS
The former Germany striker and coach said he wanted to learn what
realistic new options he had available before next June’s CONCACAF
Gold Cup and that would be the moment of truth for the older
generation.
“Obviously there is the Gold Cup where want to go with the strongest
team possible and see how many of the more experienced players are
still in it or how many of them are out,” he said.
Klinsmann was again critical of his team’s failure to take the game
to opponents, saying they sometimes showed too much respect and that
this mental approach had to change.
“We have to start implementing all those elements with our Under-17,
Under-18, Under-20 and the Under-21 team which will be our Olympic
team. That is the next generation that is going to come in – the
more we get the message to those kids, the more we will benefit in a
couple of years from now,” he said.
Although upbeat about the booming interest in soccer in the States,
Klinsmann said the national team was essential to developing the
sport in the country and that there remained plenty of room for
improvement.
“When you go out in the round of 16, clearly it gives you the
message that you have a lot of work still ahead of you,” he said.
(Editing by Ed Osmond)
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