SAN JOSE, Calif. – San Jose Earthquakes goalkeeper David Bingham’s busy offseason will continue with another U.S. Under-23 National Team camp as coach Caleb Porter unveiled his list of 28 names for an eight-day December training session to further evaluate players ahead of 2012 Olympic qualifying.
Bingham will practice with the U.S. from Dec. 15-23 in Lakewood Ranch, Fla. He will join the U-23s at the conclusion of his tour with the MLS Generation adidas squad in Holland ending on Dec. 15. San Jose’s young goalkeeper was one of 12 players named on Thursday who participated in Porter’s first training camp in Germany from Nov. 7-16.
“At every camp we expect to push the group forward by continuing to evaluate the player pool while imprinting the concepts of how we will play as a team on both sides of the ball,” said U.S. U-23 coach Caleb Porter. “As we sort through our personnel and start to hone in on the roster, it is equally as important that the players develop a clear understanding of the culture of how we will do things leading up to our first match in Nashville.”
The U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team was drawn into Group A of the 2012 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament and will face Canada, Cuba and El Salvador. The teams will play their group matches from March 22-26 at LP Field in Nashville. The two finalists from the tournament will qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games in London next summer. CONCACAF will announce the schedule for the qualifying tournament later today.
Bingham featured in one match as a rookie with the Earthquakes in 2011, a 2-1 win against the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. on Oct. 8. He made four saves in that match and recorded his first career assist after launching a ball off the turf 70 yards down field to set up a goal by Chris Wondolowski.
The Pleasanton native also saw time in exhibition and Reserve League matches. Bingham started and kept a clean sheet for 45 minutes against West Bromwich Albion of the English Premier League on July 12 at Buck Shaw Stadium. He also scored a goal against the Baggies, a 90-yard strike off the grass that bounced over West Brom goalkeeper Boaz Myhill for San Jose’s first goal in a 2-1 win (Watch: www.sjearthquakes.com/binghamgoal). Bingham also started in three Quakes Reserve League games, compiling a 2-0-1 record with a 0.33 goals-against average and two shutouts.
U.S. U-23 ROSTER BY POSITION
GOALKEEPERS:David Bingham (San Jose Earthquakes), Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Zac MacMath (Philadelphia Union)
DEFENDERS: Gale Agbossoumonde (Eintracht Frankfurt), Royal-Dominique Fennell (Stuttgarter Kickers), Sebastien Ibeagha (Duke), Kofi Sarkodie (Houston Dynamo), Zarek Valentin (Montreal Impact), Jorge Villafana (Chivas USA), Andrew Wenger (Duke), Sheanon Williams (Philadelphia Union)
MIDFIELDERS: Freddy Adu (Philadelphia Union), Bryan Arguez (Montreal Impact), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Danny Cruz (Houston Dynamo), Mikkel Diskerud (Stabæk), Dilly Duka (Columbus Crew), Jared Jeffrey (Mainz), Sebastian Lletget (West Ham United), Amobi Okugo (Philadelphia Union), Michael Stephens (LA Galaxy)
FORWARDS: Will Bruin (Houston Dynamo), Teal Bunbury (Sporting KC), Jann George (Nürnberg), Joe Gyau (Hoffenheim), Jack McInerney (Philadelphia Union), Andrew Wooten (Kaiserslautern)
Coach: Caleb Porter
