For national soccer teams, the year following a World Cup is a time to take it slow. Whether they did well or not the previous summer, they nurse their hangovers and perhaps shake off a bit of soreness and rust in the occasional friendly. For some teams, there is qualifying for the next major continental tournament, like the Euro, although even that is initially done at a canter.

But for the United States men’s national team, 2015 looks to be something of a seminal year.

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Head coach Jurgen Klinsmann took over in another such post-World Cup year, 2011, after Bob Bradley's team had been humiliated by Mexico in the final of the Gold Cup. The 2014 World Cup felt very close then, as a program that had stagnated, if not regressed, had to be revived and whipped into shape ahead of qualifying.

Klinsmann had been brought in – on a $2.5 million-a-year contract more than three times richer than that of his predecessor – to push the USA to the next level, to evolve it and add cachet. In truth, we've seen little of the "proactive" soccer and Latinization of the team he promised. The Americans did well enough in Brazil, surviving the Group of Death and playing a superior Belgium side to extra time in the round of 16 before going home. But they looked largely indistinguishable from Bradley's team four years earlier. If anything, they might have been a tad slower – albeit against better opposition.

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In spite of his endless preaching about nurturing the requisite mindset to be world class and shaping a recognizable house style, Klinsmann's revolution hasn't happened yet. The rebels are still far from the capital.

The new year offers him an opportunity to finally forge the kind of team he may have wanted all along.

Klinsmann is signed through the 2018 World Cup and made it clear with his roster for the 2014 edition that he was already preparing for the long term. Although defenders DeAndre Yedlin and John Brooks and winger Julian Green all contributed – aged 20, 21 and 19, respectively – there was a sense that better and more internationally-seasoned players were passed over. He had also brought forward Aron Johannsson and midfielder Mix Diskerud – both 23 – who played once and not at all, respectively.

Speaking to USSoccer.com, Klinsmann seemed to confirm that this was all by design. "2014 was a big benchmark," he said. "It showed us there's a lot of talent coming through our environment and it makes us very positive going into 2015, seeing younger players breaking through and hopefully having a deeper and deeper pool to draw from."

Since returning from Brazil, Klinsmann has continued that process, looking for talent in every nook and cranny. Sometimes, he might have gotten carried away with it, calling up a college player – Jordan Morris – to the national team for the first time in eons and bringing in a player from the second-tier North American Soccer League, Miguel Ibarra. But his desire to rejuvenate is unmistakable. In Rubio Rubin, Bobby Wood, Greg Garza, Emerson Hyndman and Joe Gyau, Klinsmann has introduced young players of promise, while trying to hasten the maturation of Terrence Boyd and Brek Shea.

This year, all that new blood will surely get a chance to show that they belong as Klinsmann continues to remake the program. There is no line on this team where there aren't jobs up for grabs. And among the core of players, Landon Donovan has retired, Clint Dempsey is in decline, Tim Howard is on a national team sabbatical, Michael Bradley has seldom been himself since returning from Europe, Jozy Altidore isn't playing in England and Jermaine Jones just turned 33.

At no time in recent memory has the national team been in such a state of flux and transition.

But Klinsmann and his schedulers haven't made this rebuilding process any easier. The Americans have already lined up friendlies against Chile, Panama, Denmark, Switzerland, Mexico, the Netherlands, Germany and Brazil for the first nine months of 2015. Six of those eight teams rank in FIFA's top 20. And over the summer, they'll play in an "on-year" Gold Cup – meaning full A-teams should be available.

"In order to raise the bar and learn from the best teams out there, you need to play them," Klinsmann said. "That's why we want to play Chile, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and so forth, because we want to continue to grow, continue to learn and those teams will definitely challenge you."

"Your players individually take a lot of lessons from these games and learn from them," he continued, "so they understand right away on the field what they are missing to be a real top player out there in the world."

The Gold Cup will confront the USA with the challenges of a competitive tournament. There's a guaranteed berth to the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia on the line. Having won the 2013 Gold Cup, the Americans are already assured of a playoff for that tournament, but if they claim victory again, they go automatically.

In the slow boil towards the 2018 World Cup, also in Russia, the Confederations Cup has immense value in gaining familiarity with the environment and conditions of the big tournament. In 2010, the Americans benefited a great deal from having already played in South Africa the summer prior.

Winning the Gold Cup again won't be an easy thing to pull off, though, with Mexico resurgent, Panama and Honduras steadily improving, and Costa Rica coming off a Cinderella run at the World Cup. Continued player turnover will only make it harder.

Still, it's been 3½ years since Klinsmann took charge of the U.S. – and a year since he was promised another half decade on the job. In that time, the Americans have hardly looked different from their earlier incarnations – athletic and decently organized, but ultimately defensive and reactive.

This year, the German has the chance to earn that big paycheck and finally deliver on all those promises.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.

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