The US national team’s annual January camp is well underway, with the first match of 2016 set for Sunday against Iceland (3:45 pm ET; ESPN2, UniMás, UDN).
US Soccer caught up with a few MLSers looking to make their mark with an eye on a role in qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Vancouver Whitecaps defender Tim Parker, New England Revolution midfielder Lee Nguyen and LA Galaxy forward Gyasi Zardes offered their thoughts on how camp is going.
“Obviously the first couple days are kind of hard just because you’re coming off the break, and it’s a little bit difficult, your legs get heavy pretty quick,” said Parker, who is in his first USMNT camp. “But I think after that you kind of tie in and everybody now is down into it.”
Zardes is no stranger to USMNT camp now, but he said he still looks to veterans for guidance.
“I actually look up to Michael Bradley, Jozy Altidore, I look up to those guys. Jermaine Jones, Matt Besler, those guys are clinical and consistent,” Zardes said. “And that’s what I look forward to, I look forward to being like those guys.”
Check out the video above for more from all three players.
