Jones and Kljestan depart USMNT camp, handing players like Lletget an opportunity
Jermaine Jones and Sacha Kljestan have departed the U.S. men's national team camp, clearing the way for some new prospects to plead their cases to coach Bruce Arena.
Jones is suspended for the USMNT's next World Cup qualifier, so Arena likely just wanted to get a look at him before assessing his options for the March qualifier, while Kljestan's wife is due to have a baby in the next week. Both Jones and Kljestan started in the friendly vs. Serbia on Sunday, Arena's first match at the helm, and now their absences offer an opportunity for some other players to step up.
Sebastian Lletget and Benny Feilhaber, who each came on as substitutes for Jones and Kljestan respectively, figure to be the biggest beneficiaries of the exits. Both players made immediate impacts and showed well, and doing the same in a starting role in the USMNT's next friendly against a better Jamaican side should only raise their stock.
While Feilhaber, 32, was a long-time snub of Jurgen Klinsmann's who fans and players often said deserved a shot, Lletget was more of an under-the-radar player who Arena knows well from coaching him at the LA Galaxy. At the USMNT's January camp, several players picked out Lletget as a player who impressed, and it appears the 24-year-old has the most to gain from a chance to start in Friday's game (7 p.m. on FS1).
Jones, after all, is 35 and counting on him in the long term is perhaps a risky proposition. Arena recently said he feels Jones has a "big tank" and can still contribute in meaningful ways – but it's easy to see the upside in Lletget, who has a longer future ahead of him and can play a somewhat similar marauding No. 8 role that Jones has often played.
But there is also Dax McCarty, 29, who didn't see any minutes against Serbia but could be a strong defensive presence in the central midfield. Since Michael Bradley doesn't look poised to lose his spot in the middle of the pitch anytime soon, it's about finding the right partners for Bradley.
For whoever features on Friday vs. Jamaica, it will be a big opportunity, as it'll be the USMNT's final match before World Cup qualifying resumes on March 24 vs. Honduras.
