Jan. 09--Coach Juergen Klinsmann has called up a primarily young and domestically based roster for the U.S. national soccer team's first training camp of the new year, which is set to begin Monday at StubHub Center.
Nineteen of the 28 players summoned are less than 25 years old, and 21 of them are on Major League Soccer rosters, including the Galaxy's Gyasi Zardes and Oscar Sorto.
The call-up to the national team is the first for both players.
Though the roster also includes seven members of last year's World Cup team -- among them forward Clint Dempsey and midfielders Michael Bradley and Jermaine Jones -- Klinsmann said the primary goal of this camp is to get a look at young players in the buildup for the 2016 Olympic Games.
The U.S. did not qualify a men's team for the 2012 Games.
"This camp will give a lot of our players a chance to kick-start their preparations for an important year," Klinsmann said. "We also get an opportunity to introduce the next wave of young players into the program and in particular work with many of our Olympic-age guys as they build toward qualifying for the 2016 Olympics in Rio."
The 3 1/2-week camp is to begin in Carson then move to Santiago, Chile, ahead of a Jan. 28 friendly. The team will then return to StubHub Center, where it will meet Panama on Feb. 8.
The roster:
Goalkeepers: Alex Bono (unattached), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Jon Kempin (Sporting Kansas City), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
Defenders: Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), Steve Birnbaum (D.C. United), Christian Dean (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Jermaine Jones (New England Revolution), Perry Kitchen (D.C. United), Shane O'Neill (Colorado Rapids), Oscar Sorto (Galaxy)
Midfielders: Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Mix Diskerud (out of contract), Dennis Flores (Club Leon), Luis Gil (Real Salt Lake), Miguel Ibarra (Minnesota United FC), Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution), Marc Pelosi (Liverpool), Dillon Serna (Colorado Rapids), Brek Shea (Orlando City SC), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew SC)
Forwards: Tesho Akindele (FC Dallas), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Julio Morales (Tepic), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes), Bobby Wood (1860 Munich), Gyasi Zardes (Galaxy)
