D.C. United announces travel roster for Indonesian tour; includes six members of the Richmond Kickers

D.C. United and the Richmond Kickers today announced the travel roster for United's Indonesian tour and its pair of friendlies against Arema FC and Persib Bandung. It includes most of the remnants of D.C. United's 2013 roster, minus those players who have already been released and minus players who are injured and required surgery. For example, Chris Pontius and Daniel Woolard will miss this trip due to surgeries, and John Thorrington and Perry Kitchen will miss the trip as well. The friendlies are scheduled for this Friday at 6:30 AM EST and for this Sunday at 7:00 AM EST; streaming options are hoped for but have not yet been announced.

We had already told you that the captain of the Richmond Kickers, Henry Kalungi, would be a part of the travel roster to Indonesia. However, he will be joined by teammates Shay Spitz (just signed in the past two weeks), Mike Callahan, Luke Vercollone, Shane Johnson, and Alex Lee. And another interesting fact is that only nine players on this travel roster, less than half, did not wear the uniform of the Kickers during the 2013 season (all six loanees from this season are traveling). Throw in Ethan White, who played for the Kickers in 2012, and that number is down to eight. This is another example of the benefit of the MLS-USL Pro relationship: The Kickers get to give some of their players an experience that they would never get otherwise, and D.C. United get to field a full roster and get a first look at some potential acquisitions.

Is anyone else besides me going to watch these games? Let me know if you are!