Clint Dempsey’s first January spent entirely focused on an offseason regimen with the Seattle Sounders began with a text.
U.S. national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann is nothing if not a tinkerer, and as his customary January camp approached with a World Cup now closing in on two years ahead, he began twisting and molding his roster sheet to suit his needs. Young players with youth national team experience like Jerome Kiesewetter, Kellyn Acosta and Wil Trapp made their triumphal entries. Former mainstays like DaMarcus Beasley, Kyle Beckerman and Chris Wondolowski were nowhere to be found.
One other name that wasn’t there? Clint Dempsey.
Klinsmann texted Dempsey this offseason to let him know he was holding out a number of older players and ultimately put the ball in Dempsey’s court. Whatever happened in January was up to the former American captain.
Dempsey chose Seattle.
After a loan stint at Fulham in 2014 and a lengthy U.S. camp in 2015, Dempsey, 32, is staying home during January to build up his fitness for the coming MLS season for the first time. That will leave him out of contention for the U.S.’s two friendly matches against Iceland on Sunday and Canada on Feb. 5. That’s just fine with Dempsey - Klinsmann said Dempsey’s still in his plans, and it’s hard to imagine the Texan not making the Copa America roster - but it also doesn’t mean Seattle doesn't have players in the mix. For the first time, Jordan Morris joins the squad as a Sounder.
Morris was called in when he was still unattached, but since his grand Sounders announcement earlier this month, he became the lone Seattle player pulled away from the team’s current preseason prep in Arizona for U.S. national team duty. That changed abruptly a few weeks after camp opened when Klinsmann decided he couldn’t do without Brad Evans and his veteran versatility along the back line.
And then there were two.
Iceland is a more difficult matchup on paper than many will allow. Behind a scintillating run of form and a host of up-and-coming young talent, Iceland shocked the world by qualifying for the Euro 2016 tournament this summer, in part by beating the Netherlands both home and away. This will be no walkover, and that should benefit the U.S. You learn far more about yourself when your mettle is bent to its breaking point.
It’s hard to imagine Evans and Morris not both getting a runout in this camp cycle, either against Iceland this weekend or against Canada early next month (or perhaps in both). Morris, the 2015 MAC Hermann Trophy winner, will probably be called up for U-23 duty when the U.S. faces down Colombia in March in a two-legged playoff for the right to go to this summer’s Olympics in Brazil. It would be somewhat surprising if Klinsmann didn’t use these friendlies as a primer to see how Morris has progressed, not just for Andi Herzog’s U-23s but for his own squad’s future as well.
Projecting out to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, it’s hard to find a fresh forward in this cycle more primed to break through and start alongside Jozy Altidore than Morris, who will be 23 when the tournament rolls around. At least that has to be the thinking at this point, considering Morris’s promise and the relative lack of options in his stead. Morris has a ways to go before he’s earning starting minutes at a World Cup, but he’s in as good of position as anyone in his age cohort.
As for Evans, he’s an eternal enigma when it comes to these camps.
Evans proved for Seattle last year that he can do just about anything positionally. He played at every position along the back line in 2015, including a surprisingly effective emergency stint at left back, given that he’d never played there professionally before. After some early hiccups at center back, the captain seemed to slot in seamlessly as the season progressed.
On the club side, it certainly looks like Evans will start the season providing depth at center back while Román Torres finishes recovery from a knee injury before sliding into the central midfield to cover for offseason losses there. On the national team side, it’s anyone’s guess.
At least lately, Klinsmann has typically seen Evans as primarily a right back, but the roster itself provides few clues positionally. If Matt Miazga’s reported transfer from the New York Red Bulls to Chelsea is nearly complete - which would naturally pull him away from game prep - it’s reasonable to think Klinsmann wanted cover at center back and figured Evans’ versatility could help.
Also, considering fullbacks Brandon Vincent, Eric Miller, Matt Polster and Acosta are also in camp, it would seem more likely Evans’ time would go toward the center back position. But as we’ve learned with Klinsmann, you absolutely never know.
