Real Salt Lake may have a player with an international future south of the border on their hands, as the team announced Monday that defender Carlos Salcedohas been called up to the Mexican Under-21 national team for a camp in Mexico City from April 20-23.
The camp will primarily serve as preparation for Mexico's defense of their 2012 Olympic title, which starts with qualification in early 2016 and culminates at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a U-23 tournament in men's soccer.
“It feels good to get called in,” Salcedo told RealSaltLake.com. “It’s always exciting to represent your country, and this is a very big camp for me. I’m just really excited to show the coaching staff how much I’ve developed since I came to Real Salt Lake, and how much my game has grown in MLS.”
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Salcedo was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, and spent time with the Chivas de Guadalajara and Tigres UANL academies in his home country before joining the Real Salt Lake-Arizona Academy in January 2012. He trained with the RSL senior team during the second half of the 2012 season, signed a Homegrown contract with the club in January 2013, and has gone on to make 14 appearances in MLS play, 12 of them starts.
The 20-year-old center back may butt heads with some of his RSL teammates during the Olympic qualification process, as defender/midfielder Jordan Allen and forward Benji Lopez were recently called up for a US U-20 camp, while midfielder Luis Gil, who earned his first senior cap in January, will also be eligible for the 2016 Olympic tournament.
