Photo Denise McCooey
Release Courtesy Real Salt Lake Media,
SANDY, Utah (Friday, Jan. 9, 2015) – Real Salt Lake has announced that GK Nick Rimando and MF Luis Gil have been called up by Jurgen Klinsmann to the United States Men’s National Team’s January training camp.
The RSL duo will report to USMNT camp on January 12 in Carson, Calif., and train at the StubHub Center – home of LA Galaxy – from Jan. 12-24. The 27 players, 22 of which are MLS players, will then head to Santiago, Chile, for training from Jan. 25-29 and will face Chile in the first friendly of the year on Jan. 28 at Estadio El Teniente in Rancagua. The final stage will be back at the U.S. Soccer National Training Center and concludes with a friendly against Panama on Feb. 8 in Carson.
Rimando has 16 career caps with the U.S senior team and has posted a perfect 10-0-2 record with four shutouts. The 35-year-old ‘keeper had four appearances in 2014, posting a 1-0-2 record with a 0.86 goals against average. With RSL, he also surpassed the all-time MLS shutout record in 2014 and now has 115 career clean sheets.
Gil is making his return to the U.S. senior team after making his debut last February in a friendly against South Korea. The 21-year-old was a fixture for the U.S. Under-20 National Team, playing every minute for the U.S. in the 2013 FIFA Under-20 World Cup and notching one goal and one assist in the tournament.
Midfielder and captain Kyle Beckerman was initially called into the team as well, but opted to stay with RSL instead as the team transitions into the 2015 season. Klinsmann excused some veteran MLS players from the camp for similar reasons.
“When you put together the roster for January Camp, you eventually talk to the players, you talk to their club coaches and everyone is in a bit of a different situation,” Klinsmann said in a release from U.S. Soccer. “The season here has a different schedule than overseas or in Mexico, and here and there you run into issues with players that you think it’s better if they maybe keep on curing some injuries, like in the case of Omar Gonzales or Graham Zusi. They are not fully fit yet, so we decided to say ‘take it easy going into pre-season of your club team’. Kyle Beckerman wants to focus on his club situation because there are a lot of changes in Real Salt Lake. So you discuss every case individually and hopefully you come up with the right answers to it, but sometimes you’re missing a couple of players that are usually part of your team.”
Due to their call-ups, Rimando and Gil will miss the first two legs of Real Salt Lake’s 2015 preseason, which will take place from Jan. 26-Jan. 31 at the home of the RSL-Arizona Academy at Grande Sports World in Casa Grande, Ariz., and from Feb. 3-12 in Irvine, Calif. They will be expected to return to the club and participate in its last preseason trip to Tucson, Ariz., for the FC Tucson Desert Diamond Cup from Feb. 15-March 1.
More than 10,000 tickets have been sold for the USA’s first home game in the new year against Panama. Fans can purchase tickets through ussoccer.com, by calling 1-888-929-7849, and at the StubHub Center ticket office (open Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT).
U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION
GOALKEEPERS (3): Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Jon Kempin (Sporting Kansas City), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake).
DEFENDERS (8): Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), Steve Birnbaum (D.C. United), Christian Dean (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Jermaine Jones (New England Revolution), Perry Kitchen (D.C. United), Shane O’Neill (Colorado Rapids), Oscar Sorto (LA Galaxy).
MIDFIELDERS (10): Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Mix Diskerud (out of contract), Dennis Flores (Club Leon), Luis Gil (Real Salt Lake), Miguel Ibarra (Minnesota United FC), Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution), Marc Pelosi (Liverpool FC), Dillon Serna (Colorado Rapids), Brek Shea (Orlando City SC), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew).
FORWARDS (6): Tesho Akindele (FC Dallas), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Julio Morales (Tepic), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes), Bobby Wood (1860 Munich), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy).
