Klinsmann to stick with Alvarado vs Haiti but insists US “will treat this like any other game.”

Boston, MA — The USMNT could firmly plant one foot into the quarter finals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup today by defeating Haiti this evening in Foxborough.

After scraping through against one of the tougher sides in the tournament, Honduras, the USMNT will be hoping for somewhat of a respite versus the second lowest ranked team in the tournament, however, they will not be taking the match lightly.

Manager Jurgen Klinsmann told media:

“[USMNT have] a lot of stuff to work on still. Facing a team like Haiti — and I watched the game vs Panama — it’s also not easy. We talked to the players about it and we had a team meeting about Haiti; It’s a team of individual quality. If you look at their roster and you look at the places that they play, quite a lot of them play in Europe. I think Panama got that lesson and we have to make sure we’re not getting caught on the wrong foot here.”

Things were going well for Panama until the 86th minute when Duckens Moses Nazon introduced himself to the world with a winding solo run and exquisite finish to beat Jaime Penedo. All of a sudden the game was tied at 1.

Panama manager Hernan Dario Gomez told media that “Haiti slowed down towards the end of the game, a team like the USMNT could take advantage of this,” but after re-watching the game it seems Haiti’s fitness and conditioning was something that made them able to give Panama the game they gave them.

“When I switched on the game in the 86th minute I didn’t see any tired legs, just a beautiful individual goal from Haiti” said Klinsmann of Gomez’s comments. Klinsmann has spoke much about fitness over the last year with regard to his USMNT squads, and praised Haiti for the condition that they are in.

“I watched the training yesterday of Haiti and you know what they did at the end of the session? Conditioning. They had been training for an hour” said Klinsmann of the Haitian squad before adding “it will be a tough game — my press officer has informed me we [USMNT] don’t have a positive record against Haiti.”

The Haitians are one of just two nations in the entirety of CONCACAF who hold a positive record over the USMNT (5-6-5), the other team? Mexico.

Jozy Altidore’s hamstring is still working itself back to full-strength and it’s been thought that Jozy might sit this one out;

“Jozy is coming from injury [so we]build him, play him, build him, and we hope this kind of gels more and more with every game” when asked if there would be changes Klinsmann mysteriously replied “If there are changes it’s clear.”

What isn’t clear is whether or not Klinsmann sees the game vs Haiti as an opportunity to rest his talismanic striker or “build him” a little more before the latter stages.

The reality of the situation is USMNT and Klinsmann cannot afford to treat the game versus Haiti simply as a “run-out,” expecting a victory, and despite the performances of Ventura Alvarado, DeAndre Yedlin and Timmy Chandler versus Honduras Klinsmann seems set on keeping these partnerships together.

“The only way for you to get experience is playing. You have to be on the field” said Klinsmann of Alvarado. “He [Alvarado] has huge potential, theres absolutely no doubt about it. He’s a player that can play and down the road maybe he can play as a number 6 because he’s so gifted, so calm on the ball.”

Ventutra Alvarado has been a mixed bag in his appearances for the USMNT since he was lured to the US by Klinsmann. His performances against the Netherlands and Germany were encouraging, the games in which he featured versus Mexico, and now competitively in the Gold Cup versus Honduras, were not so encouraging.

Klinsmann spoke about the learning curve of players like DeAndre Yedlin and John Brooks. While John Brooks excelled after a rough start to the season in Berlin, DeAndre Yedlin has only featured once for Tottenham Hotspur’s first team, and that was as a substitute. Yedlin has great pace, but Klinsmann does admit he’s in the development stage of his career.

But Klinsmann’s attitude toward player development is different in practice than what it is in premise. Klinsmann told national media:

“Some players on the field take a bit longer you need to be patient — but thats the process of developing talent. For the national team its a little bit trickier because you don’t have that option, you always should call in ideally the ones ahead of the curve right now and they should play the games”

If this is the truth then fans should hope that he gets more serious with his team selection. Fast. Learning curves are fine — and every player has a different one — but you get the feeling there is some frustration with Klinsmann’s continued use of inexperienced players at the international level, and press looming to make it an “I told you so” moment for the MNT manager.

Fans, pundits, players, and coaches alike realize how important this Gold Cup is to the USMNT, and the last thing they all want to see is a playoff versus their old foes Mexico. Jurgen Klinsmann sees the group of players he has as “a work in progress” and he’s right, there are some very exciting prospects within the USMNT camp not just at this Gold Cup, but in general.

The question is, as per usual, whether that is hurting or hindering the USMNT going forward — Is this the right time? Unfortunately the answer seems like it may not come until later in the tournament, for now.

Regardless of these questions Klinsmann says he’s treating the game versus Haiti “the same way as any other game” stating “it doesn’t matter what they are ranked.”

The United States Men’s National Team versus Haiti kicks off at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA at 8.30pm Eastern Time.

TV: Fox Sports 1, Unimas

Follow Scott Nicholls on Twitter: @scottnicholls