U.S. vs. Venezuela preview

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Victor Decolongon/Getty ImagesSchalke 04's Jermaine Jones, who was able to join the U.S. because of an eight-game Bundesliga suspension, hasn't played since Klinsmann's first game in charge on August 10.

In years past, the friendly game capping the traditional U.S. national team's domestically based players' January camp has been little more than a progress report on the second string, a referendum of sorts on Major League Soccer.

This year, it's a little more than that. In his six months in charge of the U.S., Jurgen Klinsmann has proved undaunted by leaning heavily on the MLS players who make up the bulk of this camp. "I don't necessarily care where they play as long as they play, that's what's important," Klinsman reiterated on Friday.

That means that this three-week camp, made up of many players fairly new to Klinsmann, and the U.S.' first game against Venezuela on Saturday (watch on ESPN3, 9 p.m. ET) -- a second game will be played at Panama on Wednesday -- could induce real movement up and down the depth chart rather than a few superficial swaps down the fourth tier of the USMNT pecking order.

FC Dallas winger Brek Shea and Real Salt Lake holding midfielder Kyle Beckerman are the roster's only players who have been regular starters for Klinsmann, though Beckerman will miss both games with a groin injury. All others will look to push their way into the picture for the many positions where the U.S. is ill-defined or thin -- in particular, along the back line.

Sporting Kansas City midfielder/forward Graham Zusi and C.J. Sapong, Seattle Sounders defender Jeff Parke, D.C. United goalkeeper Bill Hamid, and Los Angeles Galaxy defender A.J. DeLaGarza hope to make their U.S. debut and kick a first dent into their senior team careers. But the camp and games also present opportunities for several players who were called up regularly under Klinsmann's predecessor, Bob Bradley, but fell out of favor after the regime change. New England Revolution attacking midfielder Benny Feilhaber hasn't seen the field for the U.S since October 2010. Eintracht Frankfurt holding midfielder Ricardo Clark hasn't started for the U.S. since the World Cup in June 2010, and hasn't made an appearance since Klinsmann's first game in charge against Mexico on August 10, 2011. Schalke 04 central midfielder Jermaine Jones, who was able to join the U.S. because of an eight-game Bundesliga suspension, hasn't made a start since that very game despite being a starter in every U.S. 2011 Gold Cup game under Bradley.

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Victor Decolongon/Getty ImagesSporting Kansas City's Graham Zusi hopes to make his U.S. debut.

"That's exactly what it feels like, an opportunity to work my way back into the picture," said Feilhaber. "This is a great opportunity to show Jurgen where I'm at and what he can expect from me. Hopefully I show well so that down the road I can get called in again."

And since Klinsmann doesn't yet appear decided on a formation -- switching from a 4-1-3-1-1 to a 4-4-2 between his Nov. 11 game against France and Nov. 15 match with Slovenia -- he is still very much auditioning midfielders for his various shapes and roles in the middle of the park, offering an opening for these retreads.

Klinsmann hopes this game will shed some light on his pool of strikers. Now that he is playing with two of them -- for the moment, at least -- the conditioning-fixated manager is increasingly curious about how many can cope with his taxing demands of high pressure and constant movement. With Klinsmann's incumbent first string strikers, Jozy Altidore and Edson Buddle, absent, he will be keen to see which of his backups in camp -- Juan Agudelo, Teal Bunbury, Chris Wondolowski and Sapong -- can cut it.

"Are our strikers able enough to go full speed for 90 minutes?" Klinsmann asked. "The first three or four months, they were not. And we'll see now how far they can go. How dangerous are you up front? How many people can make a big difference up front for you to score you the goals? That's why we have to start to produce more strikers who guarantee you X amount of goals in X amount of games."

But Agudelo sprained his ankle in a scrimmage against the under-23 team during camp, throwing a wrench into the coach's plans. Rather than four healthy strikers to shoulder a half each, he will have just three, all of whom are in their offseasons. "You saw Juan got injured in the scrimmage -- for us that's big," Klinsmann said. "We will make the best out of it. But this is now another challenge going into the friendlies. If I don't have an Agudelo now and they trained for just three weeks, who gives me the second half as well? Because I can't blame them for not being able to go 90 minutes. It is just reality with such a short camp."

This could force Klinsmann to tinker with his formation. "Maybe there you start with one striker and the next one comes on then, and you still have one if something happens and you're injured, but still that changes the whole system again," he said. "We're now just making the best out of the situation, but eventually, I want to have more presence up front."

Whatever formation he uses, Klinsmann should learn plenty about the players vying for more prominent roles in his program. Despite facing a heavily diluted Venezuela team -- made up entirely of domestic-based players and MLS strikers Alejandro Moreno (Chivas USA) and Emilio Renteria (Columbus Crew) -- who likely won't offer as much resistance as the scrappy and battle-hardened first team might, Klinsmann is confident it will be a worthwhile affair.

"The reason why we want to play teams like Venezuela or Panama is to get experience," said Klinsmann, adding that Venezuela is on the ascent in South America, currently sitting in third place in South American qualification for the 2014 World Cup. "It's a highly energetic team," said Klinsmann. "And even if their main players are in Europe right now, the players coming through their system -- they're good. Hopefully it will be an entertaining game for the fans."

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at leander.espn@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderESPN.

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Leander Schaerlaeckens

Contributing writer, ESPN.com

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Leander Schaerlaeckens is a contributing writer for ESPN.com. He has previously written for The Guardian, The Washington Times and UPI.