USA boss Juergen Klinsmann says the January player camp has given him a better idea of the talent pool he has to select from for upcoming fixtures.
The US team has been together for the majority of the month in the lead-up to Tuesday's friendly with Canada which precedes 2014 World Cup qualifiers against Honduras in San Pedro Sula (February 6), Costa Rica on Denver (March 22) and Mexico at the Estadio Azteca (March 26).
Also in 2013 sees the US competing, and hosting, the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup in July and Klinsmann feels that he has a better vision of the players he will need for both sets of matches that lie ahead.
"With this really busy year in 2013, this opportunity to see these players in camp for three and a half weeks was more than worthwhile," he told ussoccer.com.
"It was really important because we have to build two rosters for the May and June period with World Cup qualifiers and then for the Gold Cup in July.
"Now we have a much broader vision and we have a much better understanding of how many players we have that we can bring to the international level. Our pool is getting deeper and is getting more competitive, too. These players are knocking at the door strongly.
"They want to steal somebody else's spot and have gotten a sense for how this fight really works. It all goes through performance. Show me what you can do, show me how responsible you really are, show me how strong you are, show me how hungry you are. If you do that and do that day-in and day-out, sooner or later you will steal somebody else's spot and that's what soccer is all about.
"If you want to get to the next level you've got to kick somebody out. I think they got a sense for that, and that's what makes us really happy looking into 2013 with a deeper pool and more options in hand for us coaches."
