When the U.S. team kicks off its 2015 slate Wednesday in Rancagua, Chile, against the host nation, several promising youngsters will be hoping to earn their first international cap.
They can't all get one, of course. With regular starters Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey and Jermaine Jones among the nine World Cup veterans on Jurgen Klinsmann's 23-man roster for this match and next month's friendly against Panama, getting on the field at Estadio El Teniente won't be easy for the newbies.
Still, every new year has its breakout player. In 2014, it was DeAndre Yedlin, who went from February debutant to World Cup spark plug before securing a rich move to Tottenham of the English Premier League. This year's Yedlin could be one of the five up-and-comers listed below -- three of whom are age-eligible to wear the red, white and blue at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro should the Yanks qualify.
Here's a chance to get to know them now.
Matt Hedges | Age: 24 | Position: Defender | Team: FC Dallas (MLS)
Despite leading his club into the MLS playoffs, the FCD captain wasn't initially called in this month. Then Seattle's Brad Evans was forced to withdraw from the roster with a knee injury, and Klinsmann summoned Hedges -- a powerful one-on-one defender with quickness and excellent leadership qualities -- to replace him. Hedges quickly proved he should have been there from the start.
"I've played with him all year, and I can tell you he fits in here permanently," club teammate Tesho Akindele told ESPN Insider last week. (Akindele, who is not yet eligible to play for the U.S., has since been released from camp.) "He's a top-notch center back. He doesn't look out of place at all, that's for sure."
Shane O'Neill | 21 | Defender | Colorado Rapids (MLS)
This is the technical, smooth-passing central defender's second straight January camp after being a surprise inclusion a year ago. So O'Neill knew what to expect when he reported, and he wasn't about to make the same mistake again.
"Last year was a learning experience for me," he said. "I wasn't as prepared as I should've been."
This year, O'Neill kept himself in top shape during the Rapids' long offseason. His strength and positioning have room to improve and he faces particularly stiff competition at his spot -- Jones and Matt Besler are the presumed starters in Chile, and older MLS standouts Hedges and Steve Birnbaum are also in the mix -- but the skillful O'Neill, already into his fourth pro season, appears to fit Klinsmann's mold. He will anchor the under-23 team's back line when it attempts to qualify for Rio this fall.
Dillon Serna | 20 | Midfielder | Colorado Rapids (MLS)
What the 5-foot-7 Serna lacks in size, he makes up for in skill.
"Some of the stuff he does, you just kind of shake your head," O'Neill said of his Colorado teammate. "It can be a five-versus-five game in training, and he'll just bang one in from an impossible angle."
Serna made 18 starts for the Rapids last year, notching three goals, and he acquitted himself well enough in the current camp to survive the cut when Klinsmann trimmed his roster from 28 before the trip to South America. For a team lacking wide options, the fact that he is left-footed and adds speed to either wing probably helped. Whether Serna gets an opportunity to play this week or against Panama, chances are he will take the experience in stride.
"Nothing fazes Dillon," O'Neill said. "He never really lets the occasion get to him."
Wil Trapp | 22 | Midfielder | Columbus Crew (MLS)
Bradley always chooses his words carefully, but he was almost effusive when describing the impression central midfielder Trapp has made during his first national team camp.
"He's still understanding what this whole thing is about, but it's easy to see that he has a brain," Bradley said. "When you find yourself on his team on a given day in training you enjoy it, because he's into it, he thinks, he plays simply."
O'Neill was more succinct. "Mr. Consistency," he called Trapp, a veteran of the 2013 U20 World Cup and a key figure with the U23s who could end up being a natural replacement for defensive specialist Kyle Beckerman (who turns 33 in April) at the senior level. O'Neill wouldn't put it past him.
"He could go to any team in any league and do well," he said.
Gyasi Zardes | 23 | Forward | L.A. Galaxy (MLS)
Zardes is too old for the Olympic team, having missed the cutoff date by about 15 months. But of the five players listed here, he might be the one closest to becoming a senior squad regular. The Hawthorne, California, product started all but two games for the MLS champion Galaxy in 2014, scoring 16 times as a second-year pro. He also improved his hold-up play, a quality the U.S. pool lacks dearly when Altidore isn't in the lineup, as we saw at Brazil 2014.
"He's a great kid, he works hard, he listens, and I think we all can agree that he has some special qualities in the attack in terms of his movement and ability to get goals," Bradley said of Zardes. "He's certainly young and far from the finished product, but everything he has shown in MLS, he has shown here."