KANSAS CITY, Kan.—The local fans certainly weren’t hearing what they wanted Monday in regard to Sporting Kansas City players and the United States men's national team. 

First came the news that Sporting’s ponytailed midfielder Graham Zusi picked up a knock in last week’s 1-0 win over Haiti and was likely going to be unavailable for tonight’s Gold Cup game with Panama at Sporting Park. 

Then U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann threw a bucket of water on speculation about a pair of other Sporting players rejoining the U.S.

Zusi, who had two assists for the U.S. at last year’s World Cup, did not indicate he had an injury when he met with reporters before yesterday’s training session but reportedly left training early after participating in a warm-up session.

“He’s in doubt for tomorrow night, which is a bit of a bummer,” said Klinsmann. “We’ll see with him (this) morning if it goes away and if he’s all ready to go. If he’s not, it would be a bummer, because it’s his home stadium.”

In his only other game for the U.S. at Sporting Park, Zusi scored a goal against Jamaica in a World Cup qualifier in 2013. 

Klinsmann didn’t elaborate on the exact nature of Zusi’s injury. He was asked about the exclusion of Zusi’s Sporting teammate Matt Besler, who was born and raised in nearby Overland Park, Kan., and played for the U.S. at last summer’s World Cup. But Besler has seen his form dip since returning from Brazil and wasn’t named to the 23-man roster for the Gold Cup.

"He had to swallow the pill that he's not in the 23 right now,” Klinsmann told the media at a Sunday night press conference. “We talked through that. We've been in touch with each other. It's no problem at all… It's a constant competition going on.”

While Klinsmann may not see it as a problem, it could be argued that it’s a problem for Besler if he wants to play in the Gold Cup. Besler was named to the U.S.’ 35-man provisional roster and CONCACAF rules allow for teams that advance to the group stage to replace six players on the 23-man roster from the remaining 12 players on the provisional list. 

While it’s not set in stone, Klinsmann prefers his center backs to play on the side of their stronger foot, with the likes of Omar Gonzalez and Ventura Alvarado playing right center back. Besler is a left-footed center back and playing that position in the Gold Cup are Hertha Berlin’s John Brooks and Bolton’s Tim Ream.

Brooks played well in the U.S. win over Honduras Tuesday while Ream had a solid start Friday in a shutout over Haiti on Friday, so barring an injury, odds are neither will be dropped for the knockout stage, which begins Saturday in Baltimore.

“If you look at the two left center backs with John Brooks, who (took) a huge, huge step in the last year, and also Tim Ream, who played a tremendous season with Bolton, we felt like both deserved to be in here at the expense of Matt right now,” Klinsmann said.

Ream grew up and played college soccer, a couple of hours down Interstate 70 in the St. Louis area. Kansas City and St. Louis are rivals in all things sporting —and many things that aren’t—so Besler being replaced by a St. Louis native likely pours salt in the wound of having a favorite son dropped from the national team. 

But at least Besler is in consideration for the Gold Cup. The same can’t be said for Sporting KC playmaker Benny Feilhaber.

The 30-year-old Feilhaber has 41 caps, played for the U.S. in the 2010 World Cup and in 2007 scored arguably the most dramatic goal in Gold Cup history when he struck an epic volley for the game-winner in the final against Mexico.

But only three of his caps have come since Klinsmann took over as U.S. boss in 2011. Despite having a Best XI-caliber season for Sporting that has seen him score five goals and nine assists (second in MLS) in 17 games, his current form didn’t prompt Klinsmann to bring Feilhaber back into the national team fold.

“The simple answer is there are other (midfielders) ahead of him,” Klinsmann said when asked about the possibility of giving Feilhaber another look with the U.S.

Klinsmann is usually fairly elaborative in his answer so his clipped response to the Feilhaber question was fairly telling and a U.S. Soccer source confirmed the obvious.

“He just doesn’t rate Benny as highly as other players.”