who has revitalized his once off-the-rails career to the point of earning national team and All-Star consideration -- said he would try to tamp down his expectations should he get the nod from U.S. head coach Bob Bradley.
"It's hard not to put that much into this game," Quaranta said. "I know what it's going to feel like when I come in here. It's going to be difficult to hold in those emotions. It can be emotionally draining, and I don't want that to happen."
Maintaining that club connection: Although he has to focus on his international duties with the United States, Quaranta said he was also monitoring how United are faring in his absence.
"I talk to the guys a lot," Quaranta said. "I talked to (United defender Bryan) Namoff two days ago and he was telling me about the game. I watched a little bit. D.C. is the team that got me here. As a good teammate, you want to follow your team and not be selfish about this thing. I care about every game that they play. I'll be following (the U.S. Open Cup game on Tuesday night) on Twitter and watching what they do. It goes a long way with them because they know how grateful I am to them."
Real Salt Lake captain and U.S. midfielder Kyle Beckerman said he had the chance to watch some of RSL's 1-1 draw with San Jose on Friday night because it didn't conflict with the United States' 4-0 win over Grenada in Seattle on Saturday night. Beckerman said the league games are a source of conversation among the 14 MLS players currently in the U.S. Gold Cup squad.
"I was able to keep a good eye on the game and saw that we got a late goal to tie it up," Beckerman said. "You're able to keep an eye on it. We have little chats about (the games) and how we did this weekend. You have a chat with guys back at your team. You're able to focus and keep an eye on the team."
The Movsisyan quandary: Beckerman said he's also keeping an eye on current RSL teammate Yura Movsisyan after Movsisyan signed a three-year deal with Danish club Randers FC on Monday. Movsisyan is scheduled to join Randers once his MLS deal expires at the end of the year.
"It'll be interesting," Beckerman said. "I don't know what's going on back at the club (with him). Hopefully, it'll keep him hungry to show his new team that he's worthy of what they want. If we can keep him on track and keep scoring goals, we should be all right."
The question now becomes whether Movsisyan stays with Real Salt Lake for the rest of the season or joins Randers immediately.
"We're still talking to them," Real Salt Lake general manager Garth Lagerwey said on Tuesday afternoon. "We're working out whether he'll stay or whether he'll go."
The potential deal would be a win-win for the club no matter its resolution, Lagerwey said. RSL would only accept an offer that would let them go out and acquire a suitable replacement in time for the playoff push. If Randers doesn't step up to the plate, RSL can keep Movsisyan until the end of the year and hope he continues the form he has shown in recent weeks.
Lagerwey said RSL had talked with Movsisyan for more than a year about signing a new deal and made a substantial offer to extend his contract before he opted to sign the deal in Denmark.
Status change benefits Revs, Jankauskas: It usually takes weeks for foreign players to acquire the P-1 work visa they need to take the field. For New England Revolution striker Edgaras Jankauskas, the process took three days.
The speedy resolution occurred because Jankauskas already had the right to enter the country on a tourist visa, according to Revolution vice president of player personnel Michael Burns.
"In his particular case, he was a change of status," Burns said.
Burns said the Revs worked with Don Mooers -- an immigration attorney who has helped other MLS teams in the past -- to convert the visa. With Mooers' aid, Jankauskas landed in Boston on June 28, filed the request for the change the next day and had the new visa approved by July 1.
Kyle McCarthy covers the New England Revolution for the Boston Herald and MLSnet.com and serves as a contributing editor for Goal.com USA. Kyle can be reached at kyle.mccarthy@goal.com.
