USMNT Announces 2016 Friendlies vs. Iceland, Canada: Schedule and Reaction

The United States Men's National Team announced its first two friendlies of 2016 on Tuesday. The 32nd-ranked squad in the world will face off with Iceland on Jan. 31 and Canada on Feb. 5 following the annual January training camp, which starts Jan. 4.   

U.S. Soccer confirmed the fixtures on its official site. Both matches will take place at the StubHub Center, the home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, in Carson, California.

The Americans recently opened the qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup. They scored a home victory over Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and an away draw against Trinidad and Tobago to close out the 2015 schedule in November.

Next year will see a resumption of the qualifying efforts along with the Copa America Centenario and a Olympic playoff with Colombia to see which nation earns a spot in the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Facing Iceland, which earned a berth in the Euro 2016 tournament, and CONCACAF counterpart Canada will provide the Americans with a solid measuring stick to kick off the year.

The U.S. enjoyed some notable successes in 2015 with road triumphs over the Netherlands and Germany. The squad fell short of its ultimate goal—a Gold Cup title—and then lost to Mexico in the CONCACAF Cup, missing out on a chance to play in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Those latter results put head coach Jurgen Klinsmann firmly in the spotlight as the calendar flips to 2016. Better, more consistent results will be expected in order to renew the faith that he's the right person to lead the program through the World Cup cycle.

Friendlies against Iceland and Canada won't fully answer that question. They should provide a good progress report ahead of more important fixtures during the year, though.