Alvarez and McCarty Join U23s
November 28th, 2007 . 3:30 pm . By: Buzz CarrickAs we reported last week Arturo Alvarez and Dax McCarty have left FCD to join up with Peter Nowak’s U23 team for a China Tour to prepare for the Olympic Qualifiers. The team will gather Dec. 1 in Carson and train for a week before departing on Dec. 8 for China. The U-23’s will play two matches against the Chinese U-23s while in the East. Here’s the official press release on the call ups. ALVAREZ AND MCCARTY CALLED TO U.S. U-23 MNT CAMPFC Dallas midfielders Arturo Alvarez and Dax McCarty today were named among 22 players that U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team head coach Peter Nowak has called into training camp at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., in preparation for a two-match tour in China where the U.S. will face the Chinese U-23 national team. The duo joins FCD teammates Anthony Wallace and Abdus Ibrahim away on international duty this week, with both Wallace and Ibrahim currently in camp with the U.S. U-20 team for a camp and exhibition games in Argentina. This will be the first gathering of the U-23 MNT since Nowak took the reins in August, and is the first major camp in preparation for the final round action of the 2008 CONCACAF Men’s Under-23 Championship to be held from March 11-23, 2008, in Los Angeles, Tampa and Nashville. The eight-team tournament will send the two finalists to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Alvarez, in his fifth year in MLS, had a breakout year, appearing in 35 of 37 games in all competitions, scoring a total of eight goals. He was also part of the U-23 camp in February that played a pair of friendly games in Japan. In his second-year as a professional, McCarty played in 25 of FCD’s 30 regular season games this year, scoring once and leading the team with seven assists. He also appeared in all five games for the U.S. U-20 National Team that advanced to the Quarterfinals of the FIFA U-20 World Cup this past summer in Canada. The team will gather Dec. 1 in Carson and train for a week before departing on Dec. 8 for China. The U-23’s will play two matches against the Chinese U-23s, first on Dec. 13 at the Changsha He Long Sports Centre in Changsha, then three days later at the Yue Xiu Shan Stadium in Guangzhou. The U.S. is gearing up for CONCACAF Olympic qualifying in March, with seven out of the eight participating teams having been finalized. Reaching the final round to join Canada, the USA and Mexico were qualifiers Guatemala and Honduras from the Central American Zone, and Cuba and Haiti from the Caribbean Zone. Panama and Costa Rica will play a two-game home-and-away playoff series later this month, with the winner becoming the eighth team in the final round tournament. The Home Depot Center and Raymond James Stadium will each host three doubleheaders in group play, while LP Field in Nashville will host the semifinals on Thursday, March 20, and the championship match and third-place game on Sunday, March 23. U.S. Under 23 Men’s National Team Roster By PositionGOALKEEPERS (2): Zac MacMath (St. Petersburg, Fla.), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake) DEFENDERS (7): 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 (7): 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 (6): 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) 6 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
good for the kids, any extra training/play can only help.
buzz, any word if we will every see Artie in hoops again?
also, any word on guys going to the full usmnt camp?
Artie I would put at 60/40 to return to Dallas.
No one for FCD is getting called to US camp, or so I understand. Cooper has an outside shot but Bradley hasn’t called him again since the first time.
Guess Wagner’s lack of playing time did him in. Jon Leathers must be pretty good to be the only college player selected.
I like this new trend in the young US teams of having inspirational MLS players as coaches. If they can’t pick up passion from Novak and Pareja they don’t have any.
Pegasus,
I guess you have not been following FCD news, FCD blog or 3rd degree news for the last month. It has been mentioned many times that Blake Wagner has a sports hernia and is having an operation in Germany the first week of December. That is why he was not able to go to Europe with Generation Addias and was unavailable for the U-23 camp. You have to be a 100% to go to these camps and he is in pain and not in top form. He actually received the injury in the beginning of the season and fought the best he could throughout the year. That is why he would sometimes struggle in the second half of games because of the increased pain and inability to keep running. When the pain was slight he could play really well but when it was bad it was ruff. That is also why he had limited playing time. It is the same injury Dax had last season and he had a ruff time also and also limited playing time. But after Dax had his operation he soared. You can expect the same from Blake after his operation. Blake wanted the surgery much early but FCD wanted him to wait for the off season, the same way Dax had to wait. It is unlucky timing for Blake for the U-23 camp but lets hope he gets called up later in the year. Every member of the team struggles when they are hurt. So lets be positive and wish Blake a speedy recovery and best wishes for a healthy and great 2008 season and the same goes for the other injured players.
I had forgotten about the hernia. Wonder why he is playing in T&T instead of getting it over with? FCD seems to be hurting him over this. BTW, how long to recover from hernia surgery?
It’s not something that will get worse. It’s just painful. He’s going over when he gets back from T&T.