Three tabbed for national duty

CHESTER >> As Keegan Rosenberry reflects on it, all seemed fairly informal.

The morning after beating Paraguay at Lincoln Financial Field in Copa America Centenario, then U.S. national team boss Jurgen Klinsmann swung by Philadelphia Union HQ in Chester looking for some work for his bench players.

The German, since relieved of his duties, had utilized an uncharacteristic level of consistency in squad selection, leaving his reserves needing action. So he asked Jim Curtin if his team was up for a scrimmage.

The math — 23 roster players, 20 in the field, minus 10 regular starters — left Klinsmann serendipitously one short, so in stepped

Rosenberry, playing against his usual teammates for the national team.

“At the time, I thought, ‘oh what a coincidence, they need a right back and we happen to be training this day and they need to give a couple of guys a run after their game,’” Rosenberry reflected Friday. “And the more I thought about it, the more they were giving me a proper look kind of thing.”

Klinsmann’s valuation of Rosenberry may not have influenced new manager Bruce Arena’s tabbing him for the 32-man roster for the January camp, joining Union teammates Chris Pontius and Alejandro Bedoya. But it nestles snugly into Rosenberry’s developmental arc in his rookie campaign and his knack for seizing opportunities.

Even on the precipice of a monumental personal achievement, Rosenberry is quick to highlight his fortune. If not for the minutes afforded by the Union, he would’ve never compiled a breakout rookie season that landed him on the nationalteam radar.

Rosenberry’s only U.S. experience is an Under-23 camp in college, but he hasn’t represented his country in any games. He’s proven, at each ascending level, a propensity for raising his game to meet the challenge, a trait he hopes will continue.

“Each step I took — club to college to professional — it’s not always that smooth of a transition as I maybe made it seem to be,” Rosenberry said. “It takes an opportunity; it takes an invitation. And I’ve been thankful to have those opportunities. I’ve tried to take advantage of those and try to play the best I can.”

Pontius fielded his first call since 2012 (a camp that injuries precluded him from attending) and action for the first time since 2011. That’s a massive hiatus for Pontius, for whom a first cap remains elusive.

Curtin mentioned all season that Pontius posited a return to the national team among his goals after departing D.C. United last winter, and with 12 MLS goals, the winger has achieved that

“This is all part of the process of getting healthy and being able to put a full season together,” Pontius said. “It finally came about this year. I was ecstatic to get called back in. If anyone isn’t striving to be on the national team, then I think there’s something wrong with that. As an American player, that’s the ultimate prize for us.” Pontius displays a certain frankness about his lengthy sabbatical. For a player who once seriously wondered if he’d ever play pro soccer again thanks to a nagging progression of hamstring issues, another chance to suit up for the national team seemed far off.

But he’s harnessed that apprehension to assemble a career season in Philadelphia, in his prime at age 29 And he’s looking to do the same in a national team camp where he’s not just going for the January sun of Southern California.

“I’m less nervous, certainly,” Pontius said. “I was very, very nervous in those first few camps and I think I’m a more confident player and more confident in my capabilities and know how to go about these camps in a different way. I think that just comes with eight-plus years of playing now as a pro.” The regular among the group is Bedoya, who has 55 career caps and roomed with Pontius in their first camps in 2010, from which injuries have dictated a divergence in careers. Bedoya starts anew with Arena, who reprises his managerial role with the program in desperation mode for 2018 World Cup qualifying.

That wrinkle — along with Arena opting for a veteran-laden squad entirely composed of MLS players that reintroduces many that Klinsmann puzzlingly left in the wilderness — heightens the value of carry-over familiarity from the club realm.

“It’s awesome. I think it’s great for the club, first and foremost,” Bedoya said. “I think the reason I was attracted to come (to the Union) was the additions of the club moving forward. And talking to guys like Earnie and Chris Albright and Jim Curtin, it’s a testament to the team.”

Bedoya and Maurice Edu, in an April 2014 friendly, are the only active Union players to earn national team caps, a quantity that could double when the U.S. meets Serbia and Jamaica in friendly dates to conclude camp.

Rosenberry is the youngster of the group, but he hopes familiarity via the All-Star Game will offer him a foothold into the group. Pontius, for one, is sure that Rosenberry won’t need much of a helping hand.

“I don’t think Keegan needs any advice, to be honest,” Pontius said. “Me and Keegan are pretty close and we chat and bounce ideas off of each other. He doesn’t act like a rookie. He doesn’t approach things like a rookie. He’s a pretty bright kid, and if he has any questions or that, I’m there for him, but I’m sure Keegan will perform well there.”