Three Galaxy players who have spent a majority of 2008 training with the U.S. National Teams will remain in their respective camps until early next month, U.S. Soccer announced today. Goalkeeper Steve Cronin and forward Landon Donovan will train with the U.S. National Team ahead of their game against Mexico in Houston on February 6. Meanwhile defender Mike Randolph will take part in another camp with the U.S. Under-23 National Team ahead of CONCACAF Qualifying for the 2008 Summer Olympics, which will be held in the United States in March.
Cronin and Donovan are two of 21 players called into camp at The Home Depot Center, which will last until February 3 when the National Team departs for Houston. Both players were part of the National Team camp leading up to last weekend's game against Sweden which saw the U.S. win 2-0. Donovan scored the second goal in that game, giving him 35 career goals for the Red, White and Blue, which is the most in National Team history. Cronin, who was called up to the full National Team for the first time ever earlier this month, was on the bench for that game but did not play.
Additionally, Mike Randolph will train for one more week, from January 26 - February 2, with the U.S. Under-23 National Team in Bradenton, Fla. Randolph, who had never been called into a National Team camp at any level prior to December, trained with Peter Nowak's squad at The Home Depot Center in early December before flying to China for a pair of games against the Chinese U-23's in Changsha and Guangzhou later that month. He was one of 24 players, along with fellow Galaxy teammate Sean Franklin, the No. 4 pick in the 2008 MLS SuperDraft, called into Nowak's first camp of 2008, a two-week training camp in Bradenton which wrapped up on January 20.
The Galaxy will begin preseason training, their first under new head coach Ruud Gullit, early next month at The Home Depot Center. In mid-February, the Galaxy will head west to Hawaii to take part in the inaugural Pan-Pacific Championship.
The club opens their 13th season of play on Saturday, March 29 against the Colorado Rapids at 6:30 p.m. (PT), live on Fox Soccer Channel from Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo. LA will play their home opener five days later on Thursday, April 3 when they host former head coach Frank Yallop and the San Jose Earthquakes at 7:30 p.m. at The Home Depot Center.
