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SANDY — The United States men’s national team will face its longstanding rival Mexico for the 64th time in history Wednesday — and two Real Salt Lake players will be there.
RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando and midfielder Kyle Beckerman were two of 22 players called up by head coach Jurgen Klinsmann to face the Mexican side at a sold-out Alamodome in San Antonio, and the Salt Lake duo will depart for training camp in advance of the friendly. Kickoff for Wednesday’s friendly is set for 6:30 p.m. MDT on Fox Sports 1.
Real Salt Lake confirmed that the duo likely will not miss any time during the season, returning to Salt Lake City in time for Saturday’s home match against league-leading Vancouver Whitecaps FC. The weekend match will kick off at 7:30 p.m. MDT.
“It’s always an honor to go in and get called,” Rimando said before RSL’s match at Kansas City, barely a week after returning from a pair of U.S. friendlies in Europe. “When you come back, you have to have the mentality of getting back on the right track and knowing you are back with your team, and there are different goals for this team as with the national team.”
22-man U.S. roster for Mexico friendly
Position | Name | Team |
GK | Bill Hamid | D.C. United |
<b>GK | <b>Nick Rimando | <b>Real Salt Lake</b> |
GK | William Yarbrough | Club Leon |
DEF | Ventura Alvarado | Club America |
DEF | Matt Besler | Sporting Kansas City |
DEF | Brad Evans | Seattle Sounders FC |
DEF | Greg Garza | Club Tijuana |
DEF | Omar Gonzalez | L.A. Galaxy |
DEF | Michael Orozco | Puebla |
DEF | Brek Shea | Orlando City SC |
DEF | DeAndre Yedlin | Tottenham Hotspur |
<b>MF | <b>Kyle Beckerman | <b>Real Salt Lake</b> |
MF | Michael Bradley | Toronto FC |
MF | Joe Corona | Club Tijuana |
MF | Mix Diskerud | New York City FC |
MF | Miguel Ibarra | Minnesota United FC |
MF | Lee Nguyen | New England Revolution |
FWD | Juan Agudelo | New England Revolution |
FWD | Julian Green | Hamburg |
FWD | Jordan Morris | Stanford University |
FWD | Chris Wondolowski | San Jose Earthquakes |
FWD | Gyasi Zardes | L.A. Galaxy |
The Americans will face a roster of primarily young, Liga MX-based Mexican internationals due to the date's non-compliance with FIFA international fixture dates. The roster will include former Real Salt Lake and current Chivas de Guadalajara defender Carlos Salcedo, as well as Houston Dynamo striker on-loan to Chivas de Guadalajara Erick "El Cubo" Torres.
MLS only scheduled two matches that could potentially conflict with USA-Mexico in San Antonio. New York City FC hosts the Philadelphia Union on Thursday evening, and the San Jose Earthquakes travel to face the New York Red Bulls on Friday. Klinsmann only called in two players from those four teams to the most recent friendly.
Klinsmann called up players from 10 MLS teams, as well as five players from Liga MX, and one player each from the English Premier League (Tottenham Hotspur defender DeAndre Yedline), the German Bundesliga (Hamburg forward Julian Green), the North American Soccer League (Minnesota United FC midfielder Miguel Ibarra) and the NCAA (Stanford University striker Jordan Morris).
Rimando, who has started all four friendlies in 2015 for the USA while regular starting goalkeeper Tim Howard is on hiatus with the national team, will join D.C. United goalkeeper Bill Hamid and Club Leon’s William Yarbrough in camp.
Beckerman has started all five matches for his Salt Lake club in 2015, and he will join five other midfielders on the U.S. roster in Toronto’s Michael Bradley, Tijuana’s Joe Corona, New York City’s Mix Diskerud, New England’s Lee Nguyen and Ibarra.
The United States is 2-0-3 against Mexico since the summer of 2011, its last loss to El Tri.