January 05, 2017
Daniel Gajdamowicz/Philly Soccer Page
Keegan Rosenberry earned his first call to the United States national team.
Keegan Rosenberry got his first run with the United States last summer.
It was June 12th, one day after the 1-0 Copa America victory over Paraguay at Lincoln Financial Field. In an effort to keep his players fresh, Jurgen Klinsmann brought his squad to Chester for a closed-doors scrimmage with the Philadelphia Union. The ex-U.S. manager rested the players who appeared in the group stage games, resulting in a shortage on his side. To plug the hole, Rosenberry stepped in at right back and played the scrimmage for the national team instead of his club team.
Union teammate Chris Pontius was also called into camp and will train with the national team for the first time since 2011. He did not appear in friendlies against Chile, Costa Rica, and Belgium in two separate call-ups.
Pontius is highly rated by Arena, who showed interest in bringing him home to Los Angeles last season. Instead, Pontius wound up in Philly and finished as the team's leading goal scorer.
Bedoya was a regular in Klinsmann's squad and has appeared more than 50 times for the U.S.
This roster is comprised entirely of MLS players, so the likes of John Brooks, Fabian Johnson, and Christian Pulisic were left off the list.
Adding a bit to Union lore, Rosenberry becomes second youngest Union player to receive a senior national team call. Four years ago, 20-year-old Jack McInerney was part of Klinsmann's Gold Cup squad, but did not get on the field and was sent home after the United States wrapped up group play with a 1-0 win against Costa Rica in Hartford.
Amobi Okugo, Zach Pfeffer, and other former Union players received call-ups to various U.S. youth squads but did not appear at the senior level.
Jeff Parke, Maurice Edu, Michael Orozco, Charlie Davies, Danny Califf, Chris Albright, Conor Casey, Justin Mapp, Brian Carroll and C.J. Sapong are other past and current Union players with U.S. national team experience.
