MLS players going to Olympics

Peter Nowak named his sqaud for the Beijing Olympics. The team includes several current and former MLS players. Real Salt Lake, Toronto FC and Houston Dynamo are all losing 2 players to Nowak’s Olympic roster while the Columbus Crew, Chivas USA and the New England Revolution will be missing a single player to Nowak during the Olympics.

The Olympic competition is largely a U23 game - with the addition of 3 overage players. A surprise (to me at least) was the addition of Brian McBride rather than Landon Donovan. LA Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit warned that taking Donovan to the Olympics would be a bad idea due to the World Cup Qualifiers that will be going on in the upcoming months.

Here is the full squad:

Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)

Defenders: Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Michael Parkurst (New England Revolution), Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake), Marvel Wynne (Toronto FC)

Midfielders: Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Danny Szetela (Brescia Calcio)

Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Villareal), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Brian McBride (None), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)

Scott Garlick Retires, RSL Left With A Rookie

Scott Garlick told the RSL staff that he was not going to continue his soccer career on Sunday. After trading Nick Rimando that leaves RSL with Chris Seitz as the top goalkeeper on the sqaud. Chris Seitz is a rookie and member of the US U-20 national team which will require him to miss up to a month of MLS action this summer for the U-20 World Cup. RSL will almost certainly have to pick up another keeper with some experience after the other MLS teams announce their final roster.