After releasing his 32-man January camp roster on Thursday, United States men’s national team manager Bruce Arena took to Facebook Live to answer some questions about his selections.
You can watch the full 15-minute chat right here:
#USMNT head coach Bruce Arena here to discuss January Camp roster View all 32 names here ussoc.cr/2ifwjZT
Posted by U.S. Soccer on Thursday, January 5, 2017
In case you don’t have the time to watch, we did and have pulled out some highlights for you:
- Confirms that Graham Zusi will indeed play right back
- The goal is to evaluate players and see if any of the fringe players can help in qualifying
- Called in a big roster to reward MLS players for their good seasons
- Clint Dempsey making progress, but wasn’t fully ready. Hopeful he’ll be ready in March
- Lee Nguyen still on the radar, but fell a little short of this roster
- Sees Kellyn Acosta as a defensive midfielder
- Wants the team to have an aggressive mentality both attacking and defending
- Doesn’t see a back three or back five formation as an option
- Christian Roldan will continue to be monitored and could see a call-up in 2017
- Sees Gyasi Zardes as an outside midfielder in January
- Thinks Darlington Nagbe can play many positions but will probably start him out wide