At long last, Omar Gonzalez received a well-deserved call-up to the U.S. national team for their annual January camp along with fellow centerback A.J. DeLaGarza and based on Jurgen Klinsmann's comments, the U.S. national team boss is excited to have the LA Galaxy centerback in the fold.
In an interview on Fox Soccer's Goals on Sunday, Klinsmann unveiled his 25-man roster for the U.S. National team's Jan. 29 match against Canada in Houston. During his conversation Klinsmann touched on a number of topics including Landon Donovan's future and the reasons for Gonzalez's inclusion.
The video of the interview is below, but Klinsmann's comments on Gonzalez are as follows:
(On Gonzalez stepping up to the International stage...)
KLINSMANN: "He needs to show us he’s ready for a big step into international football. He needs to show us that he wants to break in. He needs to show us that he’s ready to guide a back line, that he’s ready to communicate a lot and take over the responsibility."
(On whether Gonzalez's knee surgery in early 2012 was the rationale for him being left off the U.S. roster as of late.
KLINSMANN: "If it wasn’t for his injury at the beginning of last year, he would have been with us already on a regular basis. Yes, obviously [he has] tremendous physical abilities. He grew under Bruce Arena into a very good, solid centerback but national team is another level. And so we are happy to have him now finally with us in camp and to see him work on a daily basis.”
