As the news trickles in, D.C. United has begun to slowly announce a series of national team call-ups ahead of the upcoming FIFA international window. The news started yesterday with Ulises Segura, who is unsurprisingly part of Costa Rica’s squad for their March 23 friendly with Scotland. United later announced that attacker Bruno Miranda would be part of Bolivia’s squad, who will face Curacao in a friendly on the same day.
Following those announcements, Jamaica announced a squad that will play Antigua and Barbuda, and the list includes fullback Oniel Fisher and newly signed forward Dane Kelly. Darren Mattocks has not been called in to what looks like something of an experimental team, with numerous Jamaican league players getting a look instead:
The complete Training Squad for the National Senior Men's Team which consists of local based and overseas players is set to resume training on Tuesday, March 20th in preparation for the International Friendly match against Antigua and Barbuda.#JFFLive #ReggaeBoyz #ReggaeFootball pic.twitter.com/HmStJmcCG3
— Official J.F.F (@jff_football) March 15, 2018
Next up, midfielder Zoltan Stieber appears to be part of Hungary’s roster for friendlies with Kazakhstan on March 23 and Scotland on March 27. These are of course before the U.S. announces their squad for their March 27 game against Paraguay, which Paul Arriola seems sure to be called up for.
Of minor note, the team announcements for Segura and Miranda note they will be present for the first friendly, Costa Rica’s website seems to infer he would be available for the Ticos’ March 27 game versus Tunisia in France, and it is unclear if Miranda would be handy for the second friendly, also against Curacao.
When taking D.C.’s game against Columbus Crew SC on March 24, this presents some potentially interesting lineup decisions for Ben Olsen. Kelly would not present much of an impact, but losing Segura and Stieber (starters in D.C.’s first two games this season) would be somewhat problematic. Luciano Acosta would take over Steiber’s position, the question becomes whether Ian Harkes would line up in place of Segura, with the remaining listed midfielders being Chris Durkin and Jared Jeffrey.
Nick DeLeon might have been considered for a return to his old midfield home, but with Fisher called in, it seems safe to expect that he and Joseph Mora will start against the Crew, with Chris Odoi-Atsem making the bench.