The U.S. National Team’s January camp comes to a close on Saturday with a friendly against Panama at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, where Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando and midfielder Luis Gil are among the players vying for playing time as the U.S. looks for its first win in 10 matches.
The U.S. is coming off of a 3-2 loss in Chile and will have another tough test against Panama. Nevertheless, the team is hoping a victory will be the just reward for a month of hard work in Jurgen Klinsmann’s camp.
"We put in a lot of hard work in this camp, here and in Chile. We hope it pays off with a good result against Panama and we're looking forward to it because we didn't get the result we wanted against Chile," said Rimando in a video released by U.S. Soccer.
Rimando suffered his first international defeat in the loss to Chile last week after 16 unbeaten matches (13-0-3).
Klinsmann echoed that sentiment as the U.S. prepares for its second match of 2015.
"You want them to get rewarded for a month-long camp. You want them to get a positive result,” said Klinsmann in the U.S. Soccer video. “You want them to get a good game. They've worked very hard. They gave everything in training. So you wish for them to get the result so you walk out of there with a smile on your face."
With a 22-man roster made up of 20 players from Major League Soccer, Klinsmann has been experimenting with different lineups of late. He started the camp with a 3-5-2, but switched into a 4-4-2 in the second half of the match in Chile. Now, it may see more variation heading into the match against Panama. To the U.S. Coach, the differing lineup options just make the team more dangerous to the opposition.
"We want to have variation in our approach. We want to have this card in our pocket when we need to play it,” Klinsmann said. “It's important that they learn how to play different systems without changing our general approach."
The U.S. is 11-1-2 all-time against Panama, including victories in the last five meetings. The last meeting saw the U.S. come back for a 3-2 win in Panama in World Cup qualifying in 2013.
Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. MT with television coverage on ESPN.
