Bedoya honored to represent U.S. for new team

CHESTER >> When negotiations with the Philadelphia Union heated up this summer, Alejandro Bedoya placed a call to Jurgen Klinsmann.

The midfielder had kept his national team coach abreast of the serious interest he’d received in the past at FC Nantes, particularly as he’s become an indispensable cog in Klinsmann’s lineups. So when the factors lineup up for a departure from France this summer, Bedoya shared the news with the German coach.

“He was always aware of my situation, and I told him this time, right before I moved to Philly, that it was a real possibility that it was going to happen,” Bedoya said Friday afternoon. “And he said he understood where I was coming from and he had no worries about me because he knows the type of player that I am, the type of competitor that I am and I’m always up for any challenge.”

Those conversations assuaged any concern that a change of scenery would alter Bedoya’s national team status, a level of confidence reinforced by Bedoya getting the call Sunday for the U.S.’s latest batch of World Cup qualifiers.

Bedoya will join the U.S. for the final two fixtures of the fourth round of CONCACAF qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, taking on Saint Vincent and the Grenadines away Sept. 2 before returning to face Trinidad and Tobago in Jacksonville Sept. 6.

Bedoya will miss the Union’s Sept. 3 trip to Chicago, as will goalie Andre Blake on international duty with Jamaica.

Bedoya, who signed for the Union for a reported $1 million transfer fee Aug. 3, has played four games with his new club, the Union winning three of them. His

continued inclusion in the national team, for which he has 53 caps and two goals, reinforces that his move back to MLS was welltimed.

“Just because I came back to MLS doesn’t mean I lose some of my ambition or anything like that,” he said. “I’m still ambitious. I’m ambitious here to bring a title to Philly, to get in the playoffs and make a run. I think that in itself is a challenge, and it’s always going to keep me playing at my highest level and I’m always going to be looking to improve it.”

Bedoya has played nine games for the U.S. in 2016, including five of the six in the fourth-place finish in this summer’s Copa America Centenario (all except the semifinal defeat to Argentina for which he was suspended due to yellowcard accumulation). He picked up three assists in three pre-Copa America friendlies and wore the captain’s armband in the May

22 friendly with Puerto Rico.

The U.S. sits second in its group with a 2-1-1 record. It trails Trinidad and Tobago (3-0-1, 10 points) and are narrowly ahead of Guatemala (2-2-0, 6 points) but should have no trouble qualifying if it can avoid defeat to T&T. The top two teams in the group advance to the fifth round, the Hexagonal.

Bedoya has a chance to better his career-high for caps in a year (12, in 2013 and 2014). He also would be the second active Union player to appear for the national team, joining Maurice Edu’s April 2, 2014 cap.

It’s n milestone Bedoya doesn’t take lightly.

“I think for me to be able to represent Philly and the organization is an honor,” he said. “It’s an honor to play for the national team, but to say that if I represent the national team, I’m also repping Philly — the city, the club, the organization and the people behind it.”

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Union midfielder Alejandro Bedoya is in line to become just the second active Union player to represent the U.S. if he plays in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers this week. He was named in coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s 26man squad Sunday.