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USA Men’s Team announces official Olympics roster

On Thursday morning, US Soccer released the names of the official roster for the men’s squad who will compete in the Summer Olympics in China next month…

Officially, for the Olympics men’s soccer tournament, each qualified nation sends their under-23 national team.  Each squad is permitted to add up to three players who are older;  in the USA’s case,  the three ‘over-aged’ players are Brad Guzan, Brian McBride, and Michael Parkhurst.  Guzan was born shortly before the deadline, and actually will still be 23 through the tournament;  McBride just turned 36, and Parkhurst is 24…

from the official website,

“Eight different leagues from around the world are represented on the U.S. roster, including Major League Soccer, which sends 10 players from six different teams. No more than two players have come from any one team, as the Houston Dynamo, Real Salt Lake and Toronto FC each send a pair to Beijing.”

“Nowak has enlisted three-time World Cup veteran McBride as one of three overage players, along with goalkeeper Brad Guzan and defender Michael Parkhurst.   McBride brings a wealth of experience to the young squad having earned 95 caps during 10 years with Men’s National Team.   McBride ended his National Team career with 30 goals, and is the only U.S. player to score a goal in multiple World Cups.   The next-highest cap-winner is Bradley, who has earned 20 caps with the full side and will turn 21 on July 31. Bradley is coming off a banner year for SC Heerenveen, his 20 goals in all competitions the most for a U.S. player in a major European league in a single season.”

There are 18 on the official roster, plus four alternates…

2008 U.S. MEN’S OLYMPIC TEAM ROSTER BY POSITION
GOALKEEPERS (2): Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS (5): Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Michael Parkhurst (New England Revolution), Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Danny Szetela (Brescia Calcio)
FORWARDS (4): Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Brian McBride (out of contract), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)

U.S. Men’s Olympic Team Alternates List – 2008 Olympic Games
Goalkeeper: Dominic Cervi     (Out of Contract)
Defender:     Frankie Hejduk   (Columbus Crew)
Midfielder:     Dax McCarty        (FC Dallas)
Forward:       Robbie Findley   (Real Salt Lake)

Read US Soccer’s complete article here

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 12:39 pm and is filed under Soccer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.