According to recent rumors, Jurgen Klinsmann is set to call up Miguel Ibarra, the dynamic 24-year old winger who plays in the NASL for Minnesota United. If so then this would be the first time a player was called up to the national team from the second tier since 2005 when Clyde Simmons of the Richmond Kickers was called up (Feel free to use that fun-fact next time you are watching a soccer game at the local pub). His potential call-up illustrates Jurgen Klinsmann’s efforts to scout and foster talent both locally and abroad, no matter what league they are playing in. Many have seen him scouting NASL matches so it is refreshing to see that Jurgen is leaving no stone unturned. The strategy could pay huge dividends as the US soccer talent pool is spread very far and it wouldn’t be the first time talent has slipped through the cracks of the USMNT youth system. Although the call-up has not yet been made official it is still an encouraging sign of the length to which Jurgen will go to identify talented US players to help bring the USMNT closer to their goal of challenging for a World Cup title. In the US it has been far too easy to “go through the motions” and identify players like Dempsey, Altidore, Zusi, Bradley, Beasley and Donovan who, although talented enough to bring the USMNT to the round of 16 in the World Cup, are not talented enough to win the US a World Cup. Jurgen’s new approach may help push the USMNT to new heights in time to reach a semi-final birth in the 2018 World Cup.