Houston Dynamo defender Kofi Sarkodie has been named to the roster for the upcoming U.S. men’s national team training camp that will convene March 13 to begin final preparations for the CONCACAF Men’s Olympic Qualifying tournament.
This will be the fourth camp for Sarkodie under U-23 head coach Caleb Porter. Sarkodie was called into the February camp, held in Dallas, and started and played 90 minutes in a 2-0 friendly win over Mexico on Feb. 29.
The second-year defender was drafted by the Dynamo with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft. Sarkodie appeared in seven matches for Houston in his rookie season.
“Obviously, our mission is to qualify for the 2012 summer Olympics and this roster is a culmination of a long process to select what we feel is the best team this country has to offer in the U-23 age group,” U-23 head coach Caleb Porter said. “For the past four training camps we have been comprehensively evaluating the most talented personnel available from an extensive player pool comprised of professional players on clubs in this country and abroad. I feel very confident in this collection of players and their ability to execute the playing style we believe will best represent their talents and get us to London.”
The final roster for Olympic qualifying will be finalized March 20, the due date for all participating teams to submit their rosters to CONCACAF. The U.S. will compete in Group A which kicks off March 22 at LP Field in Nashville, Tenn. The two finalists from the eight-team tournament qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games in London this summer.
U.S. UNDER-23 ROSTER BY POSITION
GOALKEEPERS (2)
: Bill Hamid (D.C. United; Annandale, Va.), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire; Lilburn, Ga.)
DEFENDERS (6)
: Josh Gatt (Molde; Plymouth, Mich.), Perry Kitchen (D.C. United; Indianapolis, Ind.), Ike Opara (San Jose Earthquakes; Durham, N.C.), Kofi Sarkodie (Houston Dynamo; Huber Heights, Ohio), Zarek Valentin (Montreal Impact; Lancaster, Pa.), Jorge Villafaña (Chivas USA; Anaheim, Calif.)
MIDFIELDERS (6)
: Freddy Adu (Philadelphia Union; Potomac, Md.), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana; Chula Vista, Calif.), Mix Diskerud (Gent; Oslo, Norway), Jared Jeffrey (Mainz; Richardson, Texas), Amobi Okugo (Philadelphia Union; Sacramento, Calif.), Michael Stephens (LA Galaxy; Naperville, Ill.)
FORWARDS (5)
: Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls; Barnegat, N.J.), Terrence Boyd (Borussia Dortmund; Berlin, Germany), Teal Bunbury (Sporting Kansas City; Prior Lake, Minn.), Joe Gyau (Hoffenheim; Silver Spring, Md.), Brek Shea (FC Dallas; Bryan, Texas)
