Columnist Nick Green has written 100 Percent Soccer
since 2005. A
native of England, he began writing about soccer in
the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat
in the stands for one in
the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home
Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas
USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer.
Married to a long-suffering soccer widow, he has a cat
named Pele.National Team Call-Ups
U.S. Coach Bob Bradley today named a 21-player training roster - not game roster, mind you - for the Oct. 17 friendly against Switzerland that included just two out-field MLS players; classy Fontana native Maurice Edu, so impressive this year with Toronto FC, and ex-Galaxy striker Robbie Findley, now with Real Salt Lake, who has scored seven MLS goals this season. (Goalkeeper Chris Seitz of RSL from San Luis Obispo was the other MLS-based call-up, if you're wondering about the qualifier in the preceding sentence).
Edu, the first pick in this year's SuperDraft and a Rookie of the Year candidate, is likely to miss Toronto FC’s Oct. 13 game in Los Angeles against the Galaxy, by the way.
Bradley has selected a young roster filled with such relatively unfamiliar names as goalkeeper Tally Hall (Esbjerg, Denmark), defender Steve Purdy (1860 Munich) of Bakersfield and former UCLA star Sal Zizzo (Hannover 96).
Full details are here.
In addition, Chivas USA midfielder Ramón Núñez has been called up by Honduran National Team coach Reinaldo Rueda for the Catrachos’ friendly Sunday against Panama.
He misses Chivas USA’s game Thursday against FC Dallas and Sunday's encounter with the Colorado Rapids.
Núñez made his international debut for Honduras in September, when he participated in friendlies against Costa Rica and Ecuador.