Salt Lake City - U.S. Under-23 Men's National Team head coach Peter Nowak has called 22 players into training camp at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., in preparation for a two-match tour in China where the U.S. will face the Chinese U-23 national team. Included among the 18 players from Major League Soccer that will take part in the camp is a trio of Real Salt Lake teammates - FW Robbie Findley, GK Chris Seitz, and D/M Nathan Sturgis.
The team will gather this Saturday, Dec. 1 in Carson and train for a week before departing on Dec. 8 for China, however Seitz and Sturgis will join the camp early next week upon completion of the MLS Generation adidas team's current tour of Spain. The U-23's will play two matches against the Chinese U-23s, first on Dec. 13 at the Changsha He Long Sports Centre in Changsha, then three days later at the Yue Xiu Shan Stadium in Guangzhou.
This will be the first gathering of the U-23 MNT since Nowak took the reins in August, and is the 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.
"This is an excellent opportunity to begin preparing to qualify for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing," said Nowak. "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."
National team call-ups are becoming a common occurrence for the 20-year-old Seitz, who has already represented the U.S. at the Under-20 level and been called up to his first two U.S. senior team camps during an active 2007 for the first-year professional. After flirting with representing his parents' native land of Trinidad and Tobago while training with the "Soca Warriors" U-23 team earlier this year, Findley is now a full-fledged member of the U.S. National Team system, and the 22-year-old striker hopes to build upon his first senior "cap" with the Red-White-and-Blue with a strong showing with the U.S. U-23 MNT over the next two weeks. Like Seitz, Sturgis has been a longtime member of the U.S. youth national teams, and Nowak will look forward to the versatility the 20-year-old defender/midfielder has offered the USA's U-20, U-18, and U-17 squads in the past.
Of the 22-man roster assembling in Carson, 20 are playing professionally in the United States and abroad. Charlie Davies (Hammarby) and Sal Zizzo (Hannover 96), are the representatives from Europe, each having earned their first caps with the full team earlier this year. All told, seven players on the squad made their debut at the senior international level in 2007, including Findley, who made his debut as a late-match substitute in the USA's 1-0 friendly win at Switzerland on Oct. 17.
In addition to the RSL triumvirate, the heavily-MLS laden roster features the 2007 Rookie of the Year Maurice Edu as well as two winners from the MLS Cup-winning Houston Dynamo, midfielder Stuart Holden and defender Patrick Ianni. New England Revolution striker Adam Cristman represents the runners up having posted four goals and four assists in his rookie season for the Revs.
Seven players were part of the USA's quarterfinal run in the 2007 U-20 World Cup in Canada this past summer. Four players - Sturgis, Jozy Altidore, Robbie Rogers, and Zizzo - started all five matches for the United States, while Seitz turned in one of the stellar performances for the U-20's in Canada. Additionally, both Sturgis and Tim Ward were part of the squad at the 2005 FIFA Youth World Championship in Holland, where the U.S. opened with a stunning 1-0 victory over eventual champions Argentina and then shutout Germany (0-0) and Egypt (1-0) to win Group D before eventually falling to Italy, 3-1, in the Round of 16 to finish in 11th place.
