As Villafana arrives in camp, Arena has some tough cuts to make ahead of U.S. friendlies

With Sunday's friendly against Serbia fast approaching, Bruce Arena will have some tough cuts to make after what he considered an impressive camp.

CARSON, Calif.— Jorge Villafana wasted no time diving into the action at U.S. national team camp, taking part in training on Thursday, shortly after arriving from Liga MX side Santos Laguna. He will be looking to make a strong impression in his first U.S. camp, something several players have done this month.

In fact, so many players have impressed Bruce Arena during the winter camp that the USA boss says it will be next to impossible to trim the roster from 28 to 23 ahead of Sunday's friendly against Serbia.

"Obviously when you have a change in coaches, you have different philosophies and the players have to respond to you," Arena said on Thursday. "I think over these two weeks we've gotten a good reaction out of the players. They've worked real hard and they're making the task of trimming this roster basically impossible.

"I will make five or six decisions today to get our roster down to 23 players and I will tell you guys, you can say that this guy is an idiot on the five or six guys because they all have earned a spot, really. They've all done so well, so this is going to be difficult to do."

Villafana joined the U.S. team after playing for Santos Laguna in midweek Copa MX action. The former Portland Timbers fullback has struggled for playing time since last season after enjoying an outstanding first season in early 2016.

 Currently stuck on the bench at Santos Laguna aside from cup matches, Villafana was released for the U.S. camp despite the club not being obligated to release him.

"We did that a long time ago," Arena said of arranging Villafana's release and inclusion in the U.S. camp. "I'd seen Jorge during his days at Chivas USA, at Portland and he played against the Galaxy, I guess it was a year ago, and I thought he played well against us. I always felt he was a player that needs an opportunity with the national team program.

"He's a good, experienced left back," Arena said. "He can sense the position well. He's a pretty good passer and he's experienced. We'll see what he's like in this setting but I've always felt he's a player we've needed to look at."