The United States men's national team will play a pair of January friendlies as they continue to prepare for World Cup qualifying in June. The Americans will host Venezuela on Jan. 21 at Arizona's University of Phoenix Stadium and then travel to Panama for their first-ever friendly against their regional opponent four days later, the USSF announced on Thursday. The two matches will come at the end of the annual January training camp which is made up of mostly American-based players.
USMNT Will Play Venezuela, Panama In Pair Of January Friendlies
The match against Venezuela will be a huge test for the Americans as they continue their drive toward World Cup qualifying.
"It’s very important that we start the year off in the right way with a good training camp and two challenging games," U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann said in a statement. "We are going to continue to increase the demands on the players and have them develop a better understanding of how we want to play. Venezuela has done well to start World Cup qualifying and they earned a big victory against Argentina. Panama is a team the players know well from the Gold Cup, and we think traveling to Central America before qualifying is important to give them a taste of what the environment will be like there."
Venezuela will provide a significant test for the Americans. La Vinotinto are off to a 2-1-1 start in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying and are level with Argentina and Uruguay.
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