FRISCO, Texas - FC Dallas midfielder Arturo Alvarez today was named by U.S. Under-23 Men's National Team head coach Bob Bradley to the 20-man roster for a training camp at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., in preparation for a two-match tour of Japan. This will be the first gathering of the U-23 MNT since the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament in August of 2004, and the first under Bradley and assistant coach Peter Nowak.
The team will gather Feb. 9 in Carson and train for a week before departing on Feb. 16 for Japan. The U-23s will play two matches, against the Japan Under-22 Men's National Team on Feb. 21 and a Japanese club team two days later. Alvarez is expected to re-join his FC Dallas teammates on Feb. 24 ahead of the team's preseason trip to Curitiba, Brazil (Feb. 26-March 9).
Alvarez joins five other FCD teammates that have been called to various U.S. National teams over the past few months, including: Kenny Cooper to the U.S. Men's National team in January; Dax McCarty, Blake Wagner, and Anthony Wallace to the U.S. U-20 team in December/January; and 15-year old, second-round SuperDraft pick Adbus Ibrahim, who is currently with the U.S. U-17 team in Bradenton, Florida.
Of the 20-man roster assembling in Carson, Alvarez is one of 17 players currently playing in Major League Soccer. One player is playing in Denmark and two others are in college.
Alvarez recently spoke to fcdallas.net about his off-season training with Pumas in Mexico and his thoughts on being called in to his first camp with a U.S. National team since 2005.
ROSTER BY POSITION
Goalkeepers (2): Tally Hall (Esjberg FB), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)
Defenders (7): Adam Cristman (New England Revolution), Hunter Freeman (Colorado Rapids), Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Nathan Sturgis (Los Angeles Galaxy), Julian Valentin (Wake Forest University), Rob Valentino (University of San Francisco), Tim Ward (Columbus Crew)
Midfielders (7): Arturo Alvarez (FC Dallas), Nico Colaluca (Colorado Rapids), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Will John (Kansas City Wizards), Quavas Kirk (Los Angeles Galaxy), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Ryan Solle (New England Revolution)
Forwards (4): Chad Barrett (Chicago Fire), Michael Harrington (Kansas City Wizards), Jacob Peterson (Colorado Rapids), Jamie Watson (Real Salt Lake)
Head Coach: Bob Bradley
