STANFORD, Calif. — While other World Cup coaches have pared down their 23-player rosters as they prepare for Brazil, Jurgen Klinsmann prefers to wait.
He has brought 30 U.S. hopefuls to Stanford for training camp to ensure he gets his selections just right before the team’s June 8 departure to Sao Paulo.
For now, each man playing for Klinsmann knows he must perform each day — while Klinsmann still has flexibility and competition during training to bring out the best in his players. He says he hasn’t decided whether he will make all seven cuts at once before the 23-man roster is due to FIFA by June 2.
“When I coached in Germany in 2006, I named 23 because I was pretty sure about the 23, so we went straightforward with that decision, and it worked out because nobody got injured,” Klinsmann said.
The Americans are preparing for what appears to be the most difficult group, in which they play Ghana, Portugal and Germany. The Black Stars have eliminated the Americans from the last two World Cups.
DaMarcus Beasley, trying for his fourth World Cup, is a veteran of Bruce Arena’s and Bob Bradley’s national teams and a variety of club coaches.
“He’s going to take his time and make sure he picks the right 23 players,” said Beasley, who turns 32 on Saturday. “Not always the best 23 players make it. It depends how they are in the locker room, it depends how you are off the field with the team, with the media. It all goes into account when you’re playing World Cup, because when we’re there in Brazil you can’t have any bad apples. For me being a part of this thing three times, we haven’t had any. It’s been great. He has to make some tough decisions.”
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