Three RSL guys make qualifying roster

By: Fitz | March 9th, 2008

Goalkeeper Chris Seitz, defensive mid Nathan Sturgis and forward Robbie Findley were named to the 20-man Olympic qualifying roster.

So they’ll stay in Florida this week for matches against Cuba, Panama and Honduras. If they finish in the top two of Group A — they will, won’t they? — it’s on to Nashville for the semifinal on March 20. A victory in that game will assure a berth in the Beijing Olympics.

Win or lose, they’ll play on the 23rd, be it for third or first place.

Assuming the U.S. does its business in group play, that means the Salt Lake trip will miss the remainder of camp in Argentina and the Saturn Challenge Cup match on the 22nd against Kansas City in Norman, Okla.

Seeing that I don’t have a crystal ball — my old one shrunk in the dryer — I don’t know how this will impact the opening day lineup. My off-the-top-off-my-head guess is that Robbie Findley won’t start right away because he won’t have had much time to get used to playing with Kenny Deuchar. I predict Yura Movsisyan is your opening day striker with the Good Doctor. If I’m wrong, save this date, copy this paragraph, paste it in the comments section and say, “Hey, dumbass, you promised Yura would start.” And then I’ll just delete your comment. I love blogs.

Here’s the Olympic qualifying schedule again (games live on Fox Soccer Channel, ESPN Deportes and, I believe, ESPN360):

March 11, vs. Cuba (Tampa), 6 p.m. MT
March 13, vs. Panama (Tampa), 6 p.m. MT
March 15, vs. Honduras (Tampa), 5 p.m. MT
March 20, semifinals (Nashville)
March 23, championship (Nashville)

For the official release courtesy U.S. Soccer, go here.

Here’s your full roster:

GOALKEEPERS (2): Dominic Cervi (out of contract), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)

DEFENDERS (7): Hunter Freeman (New York Red Bulls), Kamani Hill (Vfl Wolfsburg), Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United), Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC)

MIDFIELDERS (7): Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Dax McCarty (FC Dallas), Sal Zizzo (Hannover 96)

FORWARDS (4): Jozy Altidore (New York Red Bulls), Chad Barrett (Chicago Fire), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake)

Hopefully, these guys will do America proud. And yes, that’s a prelude to a video!

FINAL SCORE: REAL SALT LAKE (just guess), JOCKEY CLUB ROSARIO (just guess)

They were supposed to scrimmage today. No word on the official RSL Web site. This PR staff deserves a tirade, but I’m too tired. Perhaps in the next day or so.