CHESTER, Pa. – While Saturday’s third-place Gold Cup game against Panama is obviously not the one in which the US national team wanted to be, there is still at least one reason for the players and fans to get excited about the contest at PPL Park (4 pm ET, Fox Sports 1).
That reason is DaMarcus Beasley.
In a Friday press conference, US national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann revealed that Beasley would play the second half of Saturday’s game in what very well may serve as the USMNT stalwart’s sendoff from international soccer.
“What he gave to this team over many, many years has been unbelievable,” said Klinsmann, who spoke to his squad about Beasley as Friday’s training session started with players giving the veteran defender a hearty round of applause. “He’s been an outstanding professional. He’s always been a giver to the national team program from a very early stage. And it’s always been a pleasure to work with him.
“This looks like it comes to an end tomorrow, if he doesn’t reconsider maybe,” the USMNT coach added, laughing at the last part. “So we want to make it a special day for Beas. And I’m sure the fans will do that as well.”
Beasley, of course, already retired from the US national team once – back in December, just a few months removed from playing in his USMNT record fourth World Cup. But the Houston Dynamo fullback offered his help for the Gold Cup, which Klinsmann took him up on by calling him in for the tournament’s knockout stage.
The reunion hit a snag when Beasley strained his calf in his first USMNT training session, leaving him out of commission for the team’s quarterfinal rout of Cuba and their stunning semifinal loss to Jamaica on Wednesday.
But Beasley feels healthy now and is ready to take on Panama in a game he says the team really wants to win to “end on a good note.”
“I was really humbled and honored that Jurgen asked me to come back and play a part in the Gold Cup again,” Beasley said. “For me personally, it’s a little bit of bad luck that literally the first training I got a strained calf. Everyone that knows me knows I couldn’t be more disappointed in myself – and my leg – that it happened. But it happened, and that’s the way it is.”
If the injury caught him off guard, it’s probably because of how durable he’s been throughout the course of his USMNT career, which began in 2001 and has since included 121 caps. During that span, Beasley has helped the US win four Gold Cups, including his most recent stint as captain of the 2013 team.
But when asked about his most memorable moment as a US national team player, a reflective Beasley pointed to the very beginning – when, as a wide-eyed 20-year-old, he started in his first World Cup alongside Landon Donovan.
“I never would have dreamed that I would make the World Cup at that age,” he said. “I took it with both hands and I ran with it. For me, that was my proudest moment.
“Obviously there’s a lot of ups and downs with the national team – good moments, great moments, goals. But that one, for me, is what will always stick in my head as the best and proudest moment I’ll take away – if this is my last game.”
If?
What will it take for the 33-year-old to keep grinding it out and continue to suit up for the team he’s now been a part of for 15 years?
“I’m sure that’s a conversation Jurgen and I will have at some point,” Beasley said. “Obviously when you get back into the team and you’re around the boys and you’re around the whole aspect of wearing this crest, it sticks on you. You never want to take it off. I’m not going to want to take off my shirt tomorrow. It’s difficult. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future.”
Beasley then tried to deflect attention away from himself, saying that “it’s not about me retiring or me coming back,” and no matter if he gets another call-up following this Gold Cup stint, he just wants to “see the team grow.”
At that point, Klinsmann interjected that Beasley could help that growth come to fruition by continuing to have a role with the US national team, even after his playing days come to an end.
“You hope these guys somehow are a part of the future. Obviously you want them to run out the ball another couple of years, as many as their legs carry them. But whenever they decide it’s the moment to move in, then you want them to be involved,” said Klinsmann, also mentioning Real Salt Lake veterans Nick Rimando and Kyle Beckerman. “ You want these players that have such a tremendous experience and have given so much to the program to be involved in a different way – and hopefully stay connected with the federation and represent the technical side of the game.”
