FOXBOROUGH - New England Revolution forward Adam Cristman is among the 22 players called into training camp by U.S. Under-23 Men's National Team head coach Peter Nowak. Cristman and the rest of the 22-member team will train at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., before departing for a two-match tour in China where the U.S. will face the Chinese U-23 National Team.
This will be the first gathering of the U-23 MNT since Nowak was named head coach in August, and is the team's 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.
Cristman's participation in the U-23 camp marks his second appearance with the Olympic-aged group. In the spring of 2007, Cristman earned two caps with the squad, scoring a pair of goals in the team's tour of Japan. In three overall games in February, Cristman scored goals.
In his first professional season in 2007, Cristman scored four goals and added four assists in 28 appearances for the Revolution, and was a finalist for MLS' 2007 Gatorade Rookie of the Year award. He also made three postseason appearances as New England advanced to MLS Cup 2007.
The Under-23 team will gather in Carson on Saturday, Dec. 1 and train for a week before departing for China on Saturday, Dec. 8. The U-23s will play two matches against the Chinese U-23s, first on Thursday, Dec. 13 at the Changsha He Long Sports Centre in Changsha, then three days later on Sunday, Dec. 16, at the Yue Xiu Shan Stadium in Guangzhou.
"This is an excellent opportunity to begin preparing to qualify for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing," Nowak said. "We will have the chance to get in a good week of training before playing two matches against a very good opponent. As we have seen in the past, the possibility of getting to travel and play in the host country before a tournament is especially valuable, so we are going to take full advantage of it."
Of the 22-man roster assembling in Carson, 20 are playing professionally in the United States or abroad. Seven players on the squad made their debut at the senior international level in 2007. The heavily-MLS laden roster also features the 2007 Rookie of the Year Maurice Edu.
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.
