LA Galaxy Captain Landon Donovan Called Up To US National Team

LA Galaxy captain Landon Donovan was one of 24 players called into camp for the US National Team ahead of the final two matches of the semi-final stage in CONCACAF 2014 World Cup Qualifying. The US will face Antigua & Barbuda and Guatemala while trying to qualifying for the hex.

The US faces Antigua & Barbuda on Oct 12th in North Sound, Antigua, with that away match scheduled to kickoff at 4 pm PDT with beIN Sport handling the US broadcast. Four days later, the US will close out the semifinal round in Kansas City against Guatemala. That match will also be broadcast at 4pm PDT, on ESPN2.

Donovan is the fifth Galaxy player to be called up on international duty during the current FIFA window, joining Robbie Keane, Christian Wilhelmsson, Dan Keat, and Jose Villarreal. All five will return in time for the Galaxy's final road match in San Jose on October 21st.

The call-up could mean good news with respect to Donovan's knee. Jurgen Klinsmann certainly got news about Donovan's fitness before making the call, so it can be assumed the tests contained good news even if the results aren't widely known yet.

Robbie Keane, Christian Wilhelmsson, Dan Keat Receive International Call-Ups

Ahead of next weekend's FIFA break, it has been revealed that Robbie Keane, Christian Wilhelmsson, and Dan Keat have all received call-ups from their respective countries. They join Jose Villarreal who has already received a call-up to the US U-20 team. Landon Donovan is also expected to join the United States senior team. All three players will leave Southern California on Sunday and return around October 17th ahead of the LA Galaxy's final road match of the season.

Robbie Keane returns to the Eire squad as their all time leading scorer with 54 goals in 120 appearances. He will captain Giovanni Trapattoni's squad in a pair of matches, first hosting Germany in Dublin next Friday, October 12th before hitting the road to take on the Faroe Islands in their third match of this qualification cycle. Ireland are currently third in their qualification group.

Second place in that same group is Sweden, by virtue of goal differential. Christian Wilhelmsson will join this Sweden squad who defeated Kazakhstan during the last international break, just like Ireland. They will play away to the Faroe Islands on the 12th, and then away to Germany on the 16th. Wilhelmsson last played for Sweden on August 15th, in a friendly against Brazil.

Dan Keat flies down to New Zealand, to take place in a pair of qualifiers in the Oceania region. The all-whites will play away to Tahiti on October 12th then hosting them four days later in Christchurch. New Zealand currently lead their group which also features the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia. The winner of this group will play the fourth place CONCACAF team for a World Cup spot. Australia competes in the Asian Football Confederation.

Jose Villarreal Called Up to US U-20 Squad For Marbella Cup

Jose Villarreal has been named to the United States U-20 roster for the upcoming Marbella Cup to be held in Spain later this month.