U.S. Men's Soccer Team Starts Training Camp in Southbay

The U.S. men’s soccer team is scheduled to begin its first training camp of 2016 on Monday at the U.S. Soccer National Training Center in Carson, with a mix of senior team members and players from the under-23 national team seeking to represent the U.S. in the Olympic Games.

The training camp will continue through Feb. 6 and include exhibitions against Iceland Jan. 31 and Canada, Feb. 5, both at StubHub Center.

“We start out our year with a January camp where we give the opportunity to the next wave of players to come in and make an impression and see if they are ready to step it up to the international level, if they are ready to understand what it takes to become a national team player,” coach Jurgen Klinsmann said.

“This camp will be a little different because we’re going to mix it almost half-and-half with senior players that are already national team players or some that are older and may get the chance to play their first cap and a lot of the under-23 players that hopefully qualify us for Rio de Janeiro.

“This will be more of an identification and development camp. We want to give those players a head start into their very busy year 2016, but we also want to make it clear to them it’s a huge opportunity that you have to understand what it takes to step it up and become an international level player.”

The 23-player training camp roster includes three players with ties to Southern California -- Los Angeles Galaxy forward Gyasi Zardes, a former standout at Leuzinger High School in Lawndale who played 19 games with the national team in 2015; D.C. United defender Steve Birnbaum, an alumnus of Northwood High School in Irvine; and defender Brandon Vincent of Valencia, who completed his senior season at Stanford last month.

--City News Service, photo via Shutterstock