CARSON, Calif. – It there's one certainty coming out of the US national team's first camp of 2014, and Sunday's triumph over Panama, it's that Gyasi Zardes belongs.
The 23-year-old LA Galaxy standout made that abundantly clear during nearly a month in the Yanks' annual “January” camp, then confirmed it with a sterling performance – punctuated with a beautiful buildup on the second goal – as the Yanks posted a 2-0 triumph over their Central American rivals.
Zardes, who grew up dreaming of US stardom in nearby Hawthorne, was U.S. Soccer's Man of the Match after a clean and vibrant showing in front of a StubHub Center crowd that included his wife, son and parents.
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“He's shown that, without a doubt, he's a guy that has to be in this group going forward,” midfield general Michael Bradley said afterward. “He's a great kid, great attitude, he comes everyday ready to listen, ready to learn, and he's good to play with.
“He sees things. He has a good feel for the game. I think we have to be careful not to put too much pressure on him, because he's still a young kid and he's relatively inexperienced, but he has the right mentality. ... He's shown that he, going forward, deserves to be here.”
Zardes, who debuted off the bench in the Yanks' loss in Chile 11 days earlier, was a force Sunday, dominating the right flank while utilizing the expanse on his home field.
“For me, if I see a little bit of space, I'll take it,” said Zardes, who played up top and on the left flank as an MLS rookie in 2013, then played primarily as a forward in 2014, with 16 MLS regular-season goals, plus the first strike in LA's MLS Cup triumph over New England. “I know that field is huge, so you can take a touch and you can just go in that direction. I tried to use as much space as possible on that field.”
He was masterful on the play to set up Clint Dempsey's 37th-minute strike to double the advantage created by Michael Bradley 10 minutes earlier.
Zardes collected a ball near midfield, cut inside to find space, raced forward, then split two defenders with a perfectly weighted ball into the box for Dempsey to finish.
“Gyasi did a good job of just running at the defense,” Dempsey said. “I was trying to create space for him by running in the opposite direction and try to make a run into space and see if he could find me. Credit to him, he got his head up and played a perfect ball.”
US head coach Jurgen Klinsmann called the assist “just perfect, perfect timing.”
“That shows that he has something special,” Klinsmann said. “That's what this camp is about, to find two, three, four guys who want to badly break into the real group, once the European- and Mexican-based players come together [in March].”
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Zardes had made his mark before Sunday's game. Two days before, Klinsmann praised him for confirming “what we already saw throughout the entire season, that he's a very, very talented forward.”
“He's very teachable, he's listening, he's eager to improve, he wants to do extra shifts every day, he's hungry ...,” Klinsmann said. “His mind is in the game. He makes runs where maybe other people wouldn't make those runs. He wants to make himself available. He sniffs around, in a good way, to see if the ball maybe drops there, and 'I'm going to be there.' That is nice to see.”
The coach said it's “really fun to work with Gyasi, and I think he deserves to be part now of this group.”
Zardes took the praise in stride.
“I've just been trying to learn what I can from the coaches, but not only the coaches, [also] the players here,” he said. “The players are phenomenal here ... and all the feedback they've been giving me, I've just been taking it in and trying to develop and grow as a player.”
His first international start was something of a dream come true.
“I just took a deep breath [as I walked off the field], and it's crazy,” he said. “When you're going through this camp, you think it's a long time, but here it is, it's over, and it goes by fast. It's over in the blink of an eye, when you think about it.”
