Four to Carson
Freddy Adu, Brian Carroll, Ben Olsen and Santino Quaranta each took part in the first day of U.S. national team training camp at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., on Thursday. The four members of United joined 24 other players, as each hopes to make the 2006 World Cup team set to travel to Germany in June.
Head coach Bruce Arena put the players through a grueling endurance test on their first day. The team will face Canada in San Diego on Jan. 22 (8 p.m. ET, TV TBD). They then will face Norway at The Home Depot Center on Jan. 29 (5 p.m. ET, ESPN2) before taking on Japan on Feb. 10 in San Francisco (11 p.m. ET, ESPN2).
Perkins in England
D.C. United goalkeeper Troy Perkins will spend two weeks training with Everton Football Club of the English Premier League beginning on Jan. 8. The 24-year-old goalkeeper made two league starts for D.C. in 2005, allowing just one goal in the run of play and a penalty kick in a 3-1 win over Real Salt Lake on Oct. 5. He helped the club's reserves to the inaugural Reserve Division championship with an 8-3 record between the posts.
Convey a hot commodity
Former United midfielder Bobby Convey continues to earn attention for his stellar play with Reading Football Club of England's League Championship (second division). The 22-year-old was named by The Independent as one of the top 20 players in England outside of the Premiership.
He has four goals and four assists for the team, currently in first place in the 24-team league. Convey has started all of Reading's 28 league games and was placed as the 13th best player on the English paper's list.
Nelsen to face disciplinary action
Ryan Nelsen, also a former member of the Black-and-Red, was recently charged with improper conduct by the English Football Association. The current Blackburn Rovers defender is alleged to have accused referee Mark Halsey of having a "nice track record" of sending off Rovers players. The English FA said in a statement, "The comments implied bias by the match officials." Nelsen has until Jan. 17 to respond to the charge.
Gomez's glorious goal
Christian Gomez's unlikely goal against Universidad Catolica in the second leg of the Copa Nissan Sudamericana on Sept. 22 was named to the tournament's top ten goals list as the second best.
Gomez's goal came in the first half when he received a passs deep in the left corner of the field, outside Catolica's goal box. With his first touch, the midfielder sent in a high, bending ball towards the far side of the goal that careened off the cross bar, off the goalkeepers' head and into the back of the net. The Black-and-Red went on to drop the game and the series to Catolica, who advanced to the semis in the tournament.
