Real Salt Lake trio gets call from U.S. national team

Nick Rimando, Kyle Beckerman and Robbie Findley played some of the best soccer of their careers in leading Real Salt Lake to the MLS Cup championship last month, and the accolades and notoriety keep rolling in.

The RSL trio has been invited to participate in the U.S. National Team training camp, which gets under way in Carson, Calif., on Jan. 4.

Rimando, Beckerman and Findley are three of 30 players who were called in by U.S. coach Bob Bradley as the team prepares for a friendly against Honduras on Jan. 23 at the Home Depot Center.

"It's been awhile since I was last called but I'm excited that they recognized the season we had," said Rimando, who was named the MLS Cup MVP for his two saves in the shootout against the L.A. Galaxy. "There's a lot of guys on our team that deserve a look and I'm happy I'm one of them."

The annual January camp is mostly domestic-based this time around, with 25 of the 30 players playing in MLS, whereas the other five are based in Scandinavia.

"This is the start of six months of preparations for the World Cup, and it is important that we get started off heading in the right direction," said Bradley. "We have had the chance to work with many of these players through their time with the national team, while others performed well for their clubs throughout last season and have earned this opportunity. We are continuing to evaluate the player pool as we move toward finalizing our roster for this summer."

Rimando, whose wife gave birth to a baby girl they named Benny Rose last week, hasn't made a U.S. National Team appearance since 2003.

There's been no such dry spell for Beckerman and Findley. Beckerman was a key contributor to the U.S. squad that reached the CONCACAF Gold Cup this summer, and he also came on as a substitute in a World Cup qualifying match against El Salvador at Rio Tinto Stadium on Sept. 5.

Findley hasn't been capped by the U.S. team since 2007, but he was invited into the U.S. camp for a couple of World Cup qualifying matches back in September.

Following the January World-Cup tune-up match, the U.S. National Team's next match is on March 3 at third-ranked Netherlands. That collection of players figures to be primarily European based as Bradley further evaluates the U.S. player pool.

e-mail: jedward@desnews.com