It was the first of what Gyasi Zardes – and US national team fans, for that matter – hope will be many goals in a long international career.
After scoring his debut USMNT goal to spark Friday’s come-from-behind 4-3 win over the Netherlands, the 23-year-old LA Galaxy product is thinking big. He spoke with Phil Schoen and Janusz Michallik on Sirius XM FC Channel 94's The Football Show on Tuesday about the USA’s upcoming match against world champions Germany (Wednesday at 2:45 pm ET; FOX Sports 1, UniMás, UDN) and offered his thoughts on their prospects further down the road for Russia 2018.
“I feel like [US head coach] Jurgen Klinsmann is doing an amazing job," Zardes told The Football Show. "He's bringing in a lot of young guys. Looking at the team from my point of view, I think the team is in a great position and looking at our next World Cup I definitely think we'll be a top contender for the Cup.”
In his seventh appearance for the Yanks, coming in their first-ever victory over the Dutch, Zardes started at left wing in a 4-3-3 formation, showing Klinsmann’s willingness to throw the team’s youngsters into the deep end – especially with a number of regulars either injured or back home with their clubs. That will likely continue in Cologne against Germany, where the US have also never won.
"Personally you know they're an attacking team,” Zardes said of Germany. “They throw numbers up top when they do attack. They always have a good handful of players who are very technical and skillful, but I just feel like the way we've been training, I personally feel like we're prepared for them."
Zardes has clearly positioned himself well for inclusion in the US squad for a busy summer of competitions, starting with next month’s Gold Cup. Zardes says he still has a lot to prove, however.
"I'm never satisfied with my work, so I don't think I've done enough yet,” he said. “I just want to keep showing and proving that I belong here and I want to try to bring it hard to let them [coaching staff] know that I belong on the Gold Cup roster.”
