Wednesday, November 28, 2007

U23 Training

From the Insider:

    Peter Nowak, new coach of the U.S. under-23 national team, has invited 22 players to his first training camp. Because of conflicts with European seasons, all but two are domestic based. The group will gather Saturday at Home Depot Center and head to China next week for a pair of friendlies. CONCACAF Olympic qualifying will take place in March.

    GOALKEEPERS: Zac MacMath (St. Petersburg, Fla.), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)
    DEFENDERS: Hunter Freeman (New York Red Bulls), Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Jon Leathers (Furman University), Mike Randolph (Los Angeles Galaxy), Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake), Tim Ward (Columbus Crew), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC)
    MIDFIELDERS: Arturo Alvarez (FC Dallas), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Michael Harrington (Kansas City Wizards), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (CD Chivas USA), Dax McCarty (FC Dallas)
    FORWARDS: Josmer Altidore (New York Red Bulls), Adam Cristman (New England Revolution), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), Sal Zizzo (Hannover 96)

Great to see Robbie Rogers get the call up. He really impressed me in one match against DCU this year, and could be a quality substitute on this team.

Actually, what's funny is that when I look at this roster, I see a lot of quality forwards. But when we look at the full national team roster, the forward position appears to be the weakness. With promising young forwards like Altidore, Davies, Rogers, and Zizzo out there, the USMNT could be pretty strong up front in 6-8 years. The talent is certainly there for Nowak to take this team through Olympic qualifying. We'll see if he can get it done.

Also, I just wouldn't be myself if I didn't specifically mention that there are two Terps on this team: Rogers and Edu.

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