In most years, the United States men’s national team’s January camp is dubbed “Camp Cupcake” due to its relative lack of importance and difficulty. It’s usually just a way for fringe players to get a look while MLS players get their fitness back.
USA vs. Serbia 2017: Time, TV schedule for USMNT’s friendly match
Bruce Arena’s first match in charge is a January camp friendly on Sunday.
Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images
But with the USMNT struggling in World Cup qualifying and a new coach coming in, it means quite a bit more in 2017.
New boss Bruce Arena says, “What you see in these next two games is likely what you’ll see in March.”
So even if some players who ply their trade abroad muscle the domestic-based players who are at this camp out of the starting lineup, Sunday’s game against Serbia should be an indicator of what Arena wants to do going forward.
Walker Zimmerman, Darlington Nagbe, Sebastian Lletget, and Juan Agudelo have excelled at January camp after struggling to find regular places under Jurgen Klinsmann. USMNT fans who disliked Klinsmann’s selections also will be happy to see that Dax McCarty, Benny Feilhaber, and Jorge Villafaña made this squad.
Serbia’s team is made up of domestic-based players, most of them young and none with more than one cap for the full senior national team. They’re looking at this match the way the USMNT does in normal years — as an opportunity to test out fringe players who haven’t had a chance to play in competitive national team games.
Match date/time: Sunday, 4 p.m. ET, 1 p.m. local
Venue: Qualcomm Stadium; San Diego, Calif.
TV: ESPN2 (English), Univision Deportes (Spanish)
Online: Watch ESPN (English), Univision Deportes en vivo (Spanish), Fubo, Sling
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