The next big international soccer tournament for the U.S. Men's National Team (USMNT) is the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Brazil.

After finishing beyond expectations in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Jurgen Kilinsmann and the USMNT are going into the summer games with the same approach. The plan is to expose younger players to international soccer.

According to ESPN, Klinsmann announced the 28-man roster for Jan. workouts on Thursday, which will be the same squad for two upcoming friendlies. About half the roster has never played in an official match for the USMNT, but that is the point.

"When putting this roster together, a lot of different pieces kind of came together and came into place. One, we definitely want to have a competitive group together that plays two friendly games against Chile and then in L.A. against Panama," Klinsmann told USSoccer.com. "We want to do well in those. The other big thought was, 'How can we continue building the Olympic team cycle early enough to build that group towards the Olympic team qualifiers by the end of the year?'"

The coach and technical director for Team U.S.A. was criticized for publicly stating he did not think his squad would win the World Cup. But his words could not have been more true than when the Americans found their way out of the "Group of Death" and into the Round of 16. They lost there, but the up-and-coming USMNT stars were a pleasant surprise.

"But these younger players they still need the leadership of the experienced ones. And that's why these guys that went to the World Cup in Brazil that are part of this camp that I think about - Clint Dempsey, Matt Besler, Michael Bradley, Chris Wondolowski, Jermaine Jones- these guys, they really have to look after them," Klinsmann said. "They have to educate them, mentor them and show them what it takes to become a World Cup player one day. So this is the exciting part that we want to continue, the part of education in the camp and the part of leadership from the experienced guys, and hopefully breaking in a lot of young players so that they start to understand that it takes a lot to become a real player one day."