Last week, Jurgen Klinsmann spoke in positive, yet still somewhat cautious terms of Stuart Holden and a possible national team return.
This week there’s a little less caution where Holden is concerned. Klinsmann now says the midfielder will be in camp later this month as the Americans prep for two big friendlies and three huge World Cup qualifiers in June.
In fact, Holden will be with the U.S. team for the Gold Cup, too, which means he will be with the national team through the full, busy summer slate. There could be a couple of others, but for the most part players will be in one or the other, the qualifiers for the “A team” and the Gold Cup for the second side. What Klinsmann said:
We’ve been in touch with Stuart throughout this whole injury period. The last couple of months have given us a lot of positive signals. I spoke to his coach at Bolton, and spoke to his coach at Sheffield Wednesday where he played some very important minutes and games while on loan. He’s on his way back. That being said, we want to have him back in our picture. We are going to bring him for the May-June camp, and also for the Gold Cup.”
Remember that last week Klinsmann noted Holden was quite certain he did not want a break this summer. (Most European-based performers take 3-4 weeks off in the summer.) The U.S. coach noted with a laugh that Holden said he already had a year-and-a-half break, referring to the injury that kept him away from first-team soccer for so long.
(MORE: Checking on Holden, now back at Bolton)
The United States will make camp at the Home Depot Center outside Los Angeles May 21 or 22, then fly to Cleveland on May 27 for the first match of a busy summer. The full U.S. schedule is here.
