We’ve talked about it for the last six months or more, but the complications that D.C. United will face with three starters involved in Olympic qualifying are a little more tangible after U.S. Soccer announced a 23-player training camp roster for the Under-23 national team, a group that will gather next week in Texas in preparation for the regional qualifying tournament next month.
As expected, D.C. starting goalkeeper Bill Hamid and starting defensive midfielder Perry Kitchen are both on the roster, which will keep them out of two of the three games that United will play in the Carolina Challenge Cup in Charleston, S.C., during the final leg of its preseason.
The under-23 team will scrimmage the minor league San Antonio Scorpions and face the Mexican under-23 team at FC Dallas Stadium on Feb.29. The first Olympic qualifying match is March 22 in Nashville, Tenn., against Cuba.
It’ll be the first under-23 camp for Kitchen under former Akron coach Caleb Porter.
With Hamid gone from D.C., look for significant action from Joe Willis, and the team is in talks with goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra, who is expected to slide into the third spot after having been with D.C. throughout the preseason. United has new signing Marcelo Saragosa and Stephen King to account for Kitchen’s absence.
D.C. United is also preparing to lose Andy Najar next month to join up with the Honduran national team for Olympic qualification. There was a meeting of the minds with Honduran coach Luis Fernando Suarez in Arizona last week which hopefully will pave the way for clean lines of communication after Najar’s international career got off to shaky start last year.
“It’s certainly our expectation that they’re going to call him in for the Olympics,” United general manager Dave Kasper said, but added there were no plans, to his knowledge, of any training camps or friendlies prior to the qualification tournament.
Najar is also expected to be involved with full Honduras national team when 2014 World Cup qualification gets underway this summer.
The full U.S. under-23 roster:
GOALKEEPERS (2): Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire)
DEFENDERS (7): Greg Garza (Club Tijuana), Perry Kitchen (D.C. United), Alfredo Morales (Hertha Berlin), Ike Opara (San Jose Earthquakes), Kofi Sarkodie (Houston Dynamo), Zarek Valentin (Montreal Impact), Jorge Villafaña (Chivas USA)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Mix Diskerud (Gent), Dilly Duka (Columbus Crew), Jared Jeffrey (Mainz), Amobi Okugo (Philadelphia Union), Michael Stephens (LA Galaxy)
FORWARDS (8): Freddy Adu (Philadelphia Union), Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Terrence Boyd (Borussia Dortmund), Teal Bunbury (Sporting Kansas City), Joe Gyau (Hoffenheim), Jack McInerney (Philadelphia Union), Brek Shea (FC Dallas), Tony Taylor (Estoril Praia)
