Jurgen Klinsmann has continued his global recruitment campaign with the slow but steady courtship of reigning MLS Rookie of the Year Tesho Akindele, who is mulling whether to become the latest dual-eligible player to opt for the US national team.
Klinsmann said as much in remarks to the media on Tuesday as the USMNT's January camp rolled on at StubHub Center in Carson, California, noting that Akindele and former Mexican youth international Julio Morales are using the camp to weigh the direction of their international futures.
“He's doing really well, Tesho. And the goal is, with players like him or with Julio Morales or other ones that came in before, is let them get a feeling for our environment,” said Klinsmann in a video distributed by US Soccer. “Let them get a feeling for their teammates, how things are run with the US program, and then down the road they make their decision, together with their family.
“They have to go the direction they feel most comfortable with.”
Since taking over the head coaching position in 2011, the USMNT's German-American boss has extended, and some would say intensified, the program's long-running search for overseas talent. While the capture of high-profile prospects like Arsenal FC starlet Gedion Zelalem draws more media attention, Klinsmann's latest roster suggests that his nets are being cast over successively broader territory.
FC Dallas plucked Akindele from the unheralded NCAA Division II program at the Colorado School of Mines in last year's SuperDraft, and the Calgary-born attacker quickly put himself on the map with a standout debut season. Klinsmann's selection of Morales, a former Chivas USA striker now plying his trade with Coras de Tepic of the Mexican second division, turned heads in a similar fashion.
“I think we are doing well in that process, because we are honest,” said Klinsmann of his marketing pitch to dual nationals. “We leave it up to the players and their families to make their decision. We tell them how we run things, how we organize it. We are also honest in terms of where he is in the whole player pool. We have a lot of, lot of competition.
“And hopefully Tesho and Julio will go with us. But no matter what they decide, they have to make it right for themselves.”
Akindele appeared in a friendly for Canada's U-17 national team in 2009, but has subsequently received his US citizenship and turned down a call-up from CanMNT coach Benito Floro last year, telling ESPNFC.com that he's still “trying to gather all the information I can” about his international options.
Neither Akindele nor Morales will travel to South America with the USMNT later this month for the Jan. 28 friendly vs. Chile. Klinsmann says both will need to file a one-time eligibility switch to don US colors, a move that is irreversible.
“I think so far [Akindele] is having a blast, he's doing fine, he's looking sharp,” said the German World Cup winner. “Obviously he can't travel with us to Chile, nor can Julio, because they need now the one-time switch. And we are not pressuring that, we are not pushing them. We said, 'take all the time in the world,' because once you make that decision, it's a lifetime decision.”
