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We’re inching closer and closer to the USMNT’s January camp roster being revealed. Franco Panizo tweeted on Tuesday that the full list would be announced “later this week” meaning we could see it as early as Thursday or as late as Sunday, who knows with U.S. Soccer?
The full roster for the USMNT's annual winter camp is expected to be announced later this week. #USMNT
— Franco Panizo (@FrancoPanizo) January 3, 2017
Aside from Bruce Arena already revealing some of the names he plans on calling in in a Q&A in December, there’s some interesting speculation taking place as to some of the experiments we could see in the upcoming camp. Paul Tenorio tweeted on Wednesday that he’s hearing that Graham Zusi, who normally plays either right or central midfield, could be called in purely as a right back.
Hearing some interesting stuff ahead of #USMNT January camp. Don't be shocked to see Graham Zusi invited as a right back.
— Paul Tenorio (@PaulTenorio) January 4, 2017
Zusi did play a few matches for Sporting Kansas City at the position last season, but has never played there for the USMNT. While this isn’t necessarily as risky as playing Jose Torres as left back like Jurgen Klinsmann bravely tried in his tenure, this is still a venture away from the structured plan we were expecting Arena to implement.
Granted, Zusi’s position with the team as an attacking player is pretty much null with his current form being what it is. With the majority of the right back pool playing their club soccer in Europe (Yedlin, Chandler, Lichaj, etc.) this move makes a little bit of sense.
What do you think of this piece of news? Interested to see if Zusi can have a second USMNT life as a fullback? Wondering why he’s getting called in at all? Let us know.