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Frei withdraws from USMNT camp with ankle injury; replaced by Rowe

Reuters

Bruce Arena's new-look U.S. men's national team will be without goalkeeper Stefan Frei for the remainder of its January training camp in Los Angeles as the Seattle Sounders shot-stopper suffered a sprained right ankle and has been sent home as a result.

Having drawn praise from Arena - who called Frei "pretty damn good" when he gave him his first U.S. national team call-up - the 30-year-old MLS Cup winner would have theoretically missed a pair of international friendlies against Serbia on Jan. 29 and Jamaica on Feb. 3 ... if he were even eligible in the first place.

Frei's inclusion in the camp came in the middle of his citizenship process; the Swiss-born goalkeeper is not yet a U.S. citizen and still holds a Swiss passport. But Arena opted to give Frei a call-up to the team's training camp in an effort to get him acclimatized to the national team fold.

In response to the injury, Arena opted to give his former LA Galaxy goalkeeper Brian Rowe a call-up. The 28-year-old now joins Nick Rimando, David Bingham, and Luis Robles in the squad after D.C. United's Bill Hamid was also sent home with an injury earlier in the camp.

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