Alejandro Bedoya, 2009 Boston College alum and midfielder for French club Nantes, was named today to the United States' provisional 30-man roster for the upcoming World Cup.
Bedoya scored 27 goals and 23 assists in 68 career games as an Eagle from 2005-2008 before embarking on a professional career that has taken him to the Sweden and Scotland before landing in France last summer. He has 26 career appearances for the US National Team, with his one career international goal coming last June in a 6-0 exhibition win against Guatemala.
The US team will begin training camp soon and play a series of "send-off" exhibition games before the 23-man squad is selected for the US's World Cup opener against Ghana on June 16. The Americans will travel to San Francisco to face Azerbaijan on May 27 at 10 PM, then head to Red Bull Arena in New Jersey to clash with Turkey on June 1 at 2 PM, before wrapping up the series on June 7 at 6 PM against Nigeria in Jacksonville. Given that Bedoya is someone who will need to battle for his spot on the final team - and given that he's always shown a ton of attacking promise for his club teams, though it hasn't always translated to the international game - I'd expect to see a lot of him in the send-off series.
It's been a pretty good stretch for Boston College players being selected for international competitions. Johnny Gaudreau and the Hayes brothers are currently in Belarus playing for the US hockey team in the IIHF World Championships. Three women's hockey players and Brooks Orpik were all part of the US teams at the Winter Olympics. Kristie Mewis has established herself on the women's national soccer team and will likely play in their World Cup next year, and McKenzie Meehan has become a strong part of the US women's youth teams. In addition, BC hockey has has a nearly endless crop of players and recruits compete internationally for the US at the U-20 and U-18 levels.
Congratulations to Alejandro and best of luck in getting to Brazil.