Houston Dynamo defender Kofi Sarkodie has been named to the 23-player roster for the upcoming U.S. Under-23 men’s national team training camp. The camp will last for 10 days in Frisco, Texas, and will culminate with a friendly against Mexico’s U-23 national team on Wednesday, Feb. 29 at FC Dallas Stadium.
In addition to the Mexico match, the U.S. U-23s will scrimmage FC Dallas on Wednesday, Feb 22, and the San Antonio Scorpions on Friday, Feb. 24.
“The No. 1 priority in this camp is to see our guys in games and to build a little bit of that rhythm by playing multiple games in a short amount of time,” Porter said. “Everything is geared toward the Mexico game, but we want to get a couple of games early in the week to get guys minutes so we can look at everybody to help with those final roster decisions leading into qualifying.”
This will be the third U-23 camp for Sarkodie under new head coach Caleb Porter. Sarkodie was called into the December camp, held in Lakewood Ranch, Fla., and the January camp, held in Carson, Calif. Sarkodie started and played 90 minutes in the U-23s 2-1 victory over Costa Rican club Alajuelense on January 24.
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.
The U.S. U-23 MNT was drawn into Group A of the 2012 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament and will face Canada, Cuba and El Salvador. The teams open group play from March 22-26 at LP Field in Nashville. The two finalists from the 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), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire)
DEFENDERS (7): Greg Garza (Club Tijuana), Perry Kitchen (D.C. United), Alfredo Morales (Hertha Berlin), Ike Opara (San Jose Earthquakes), Kofi Sarkodie (Houston Dynamo), Zarek Valentin (Montreal Impact), Jorge Villafaña (Chivas USA)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Mix Diskerud (Gent), Dilly Duka (Columbus Crew), Jared Jeffrey (Mainz), Amobi Okugo (Philadelphia Union), Michael Stephens (LA Galaxy)
FORWARDS (8): Freddy Adu (Philadelphia Union), Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Terrence Boyd (Borussia Dortmund), Teal Bunbury (Sporting Kansas City), Joe Gyau (Hoffenheim), Jack McInerney (Philadelphia Union), Brek Shea (FC Dallas), Tony Taylor (Estoril Praia)
