Defender DeAndre Yedlin hasn’t seen the field for Tottenham’s senior team since he moved to the English Premier League club earlier this month, but fans of the former Seattle Sounders star needn’t worry – the 21-year-old US international is just getting his feet under him.
Yedlin, who got permission from Tottenham to join the US national team this week for Wednesday’s friendly at Chile, talked with USsoccer.com on Monday about his new situation in North London and the club’s decision to allow him to play with the USMNT.
“I think at the time with Spurs I’m obviously just training and not getting a ton of games because I still need to get my fitness up,” Yedlin said. “But I think it allowed me to get time with the national team, which is always good, and hopefully get some games in. Game fitness is obviously the most important thing, so I think they saw a positive in it, I saw positive in it, and this will work out for everyone.
“It’s really just right now working on getting that preseason rust off, then hopefully getting into form where I can play.”
Yedlin is one of 23 players on the US roster for Wednesday’s friendly. 20 of those players come from MLS, with Yedlin, midfielder Miguel Ibarra and forward Bobby Wood the only three who play outside the league.
Wednesday’s match – the first of the year for the national team – will kick off at 6 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live from Rancagua, Chile on Fox Sports 1, UniMas and UDN.
