According to a Yahoo Sports report, the top performers of the US Men's National Team for football at this year's World Cup may not be able to represent the country in the next tournament in Russia in 2018. Tim Howard currently leads the list of several key members, which include captain Clint Dempsey and four-time World Cup representative DaMarcus Beasley, who may depart from the World Cup squad due to, for some, family priorities.
Howard, who has since been branded as the "American Jesus" and Us' "new Secretary of Defense" for his record 16 saves furing the Round of 16 match against Belgium alone, is eager to pass on the torch. He told ESPN's Mike and Mike, "I want to be at the bar, throwing beer around and jumping around when Jozy [Altidore] scores goals. That looks fun to me. I don't know. I need to kind of take stock of where I'm at."
Klinsmann seemed to have expectations that senior players in the current World Cup squad might take a backseat to give way to newcomers like Howard's understudy Brad Guzan, who is said to have waited patiently during the the 2010 and now the 2014 World Cups. Klinsmann chimed, "There is no thank you and bye. It is always defined by performance and what you bring to the table. A good thing about going into the next year is we can kind of see a lot of young players and give them some time to show where they are at. So the experienced or older players, we can tell them for the next couple of months, or for the next year, we want to see the young players grow."
On the other hand, US Soccer president Sunil Gulati remains hopeful that Howard's and DaMarcus' patriotism will keep them in the squad until the next tournament. He said, "I'm not sure Timmy is ready to look to Russia. Guys like DaMarcus have been extraordinary servants for us. He is at the top of that list because he has been at four World Cups for us."
