Even by January camp standards, this U.S. men’s national team group was lacking star power. It was a group designed with a focus, generally, on the Olympics. This was a senior USMNT match, yes, but Saturday’s January camp-closing friendly against Slovenia was really a youth exercise designed to see which of these young stars would sink and which would swim.
And the USMNT looked youthful. They looked inexperienced and naive and, at some points, like a group of players not quite ready for this senior international level. Save for a few standouts, the USMNT largely fell flat in what ended as a 1-0 loss to a Slovenia team constructed much the same as their own.
This match, of course, was always about the micro, not the macro. It was about individuals showing where they’d fit in the grand scheme of things. If a handful of these players can make it to the proper senior team, this match will be looked at as an important growing pain for a few young starlets.
Until that happens, though, this match will be looked at for what it really was: a disappointing exercise. There was little excitement generated by this USMNT group as they closed the annual January camp with a whimper.
GOAL rates the USMNT players from Toyota Field…