SANDY, Utah (Thursday, December 19, 2018) – The Real Salt Lake Homegrown tandem of DF Justen Glad and FW Corey Baird were called in by U.S. National Team Head Coach Gregg Berhalter for January camp to open 2019. Camp will start on January 6 at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California, and will feature friendlies against Panama on January 28 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, and Costa Rica on February 2 at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California.
“Justen and Corey highlight a special group of young players on our roster. This honor for them is a testament to the work they’ve done at Real Salt Lake since their days at the Academy and reinforces our club vision,” Real Salt Lake General Manager Craig Waibel said. “The opportunities are there for the entire group and this call-up could be a sign of things to come for them if they take advantage.”
Glad and Baird were prominent figures in Real Salt Lake’s return to the MLS Cup Playoffs in 2018. On a team that saw more contributions from academy products than any other team in MLS, the duo stood out, with Baird earning 2018 MLS AT&T Rookie of the Year honors and Glad leading RSL field players with 33 starts.
Glad, 21, is returning to January camp for the second consecutive year, but still seeks his first appearance for the U.S. National Team. He made 50 consecutive starts for RSL, dating back to the 2017 season, with RSL going 22-17-11 in that stretch. After making 33 starts in 2018, he now has 86 appearances and 84 starts since signing with Real Salt Lake in 2014. In 2017, the Tucson, Arizona, native started in nine of his 11 appearances with the U.S. U-20 National Team as the U.S. won the CONCACAF U-20 championship and made a run to the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup quarterfinals.
Baird, 22, joins the U.S. National Team for his first senior call-up after an award-winning rookie season in MLS. He led all rookies in scoring with eight goals and added five assists. He was seventh on the club with 1,903 minutes after working his way into the starting lineup on April 7 and finished third on Real Salt Lake’s roster in goals behind only MF Damir Kreilach and MF Albert Rusnák. The Escondido, California, native appeared for the U.S. U-17, U-18, U-20 and U-23 National Teams and prior to signing with Real Salt Lake was a three-time NCAA National Champion at Stanford University.
“In putting together this domestic-based roster, we started with a number of players who we think can be a core part of the group moving forward. We then looked at players that excelled this year in Major League Soccer, and finally chose players that can play a specific role in our game model,” U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Gregg Berhalter said. “We are very excited to start to implement our ideas about the style of play and the culture we want to develop in the National Team.”
U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION (Club; Caps/Goals)
GOALKEEPERS (4): Alex Bono (Toronto FC/CAN; 1/0), Sean Johnson (New York City FC; 5/0), Tyler Miller (LAFC; 0/0), Zack Steffen (Columbus Crew SC; 6/0)
DEFENDERS (10): Reggie Cannon (FC Dallas; 2/0), Greg Garza (FC Cincinnati; 10/0), Justen Glad (Real Salt Lake; 0/0), Nick Lima (San Jose Earthquakes; 0/0), Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls; 2/0), Daniel Lovitz (Montreal Impact/CAN; 0/0), Mark McKenzie (Philadelphia Union; 0/0), Keegan Rosenberry (Colorado Rapids; 0/0), Auston Trusty (Philadelphia Union; 0/0), Walker Zimmerman (LAFC; 4/1)
MIDFIELDERS (10): Kellyn Acosta (Colorado Rapids; 23/2), Paul Arriola (D.C. United; 17/2), Corey Baird (Real Salt Lake; 0/0), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC/CAN; 142/17), Russell Canouse (D.C. United; 0/0), Marky Delgado (Toronto FC/CAN; 6/0), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy; 5/1), Djordje Mihailovic (Chicago Fire; 0/0), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders FC; 5/0), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew SC; 11/0)
FORWARDS (3): Jeremy Ebobisse (Portland Timbers; 0/0), Christian Ramirez (LAFC; 0/0), Gyasi Zardes (Columbus Crew SC; 40/6)
