Breaking: Corey Baird Called Up To USMNT

Gregg Berhalter and the USSF announced today that Real Salt Lake’s own Corey Baird will be joining the US team once again. With this summer’s Gold Cup preparation now in full swing, Berhalter is calling in what we can expect to be a much stronger lineup than January’s perennial “camp cupcake.”

This bodes extremely well for Corey given that the January camp is not during a FIFA international window and primarily consists of players who are playing in the US professional leagues. So for Corey to get called up in March, when players like Tyler Adams of RB Leipzig, Christian Pulisic of Chelsea/Dortmund, and Weston McKennie of Schalke are all being called into camp is a real accomplishment for Baird.

Corey is more than deserving given the impact he had during two January friendlies that he both started in and was a constant threat going forward. Baird delivered what would be the game winning assist against Panama in the 40th minute of that match on January 27th, as well as coming inches away of netting a goal of his own as well.

Whether Baird will have the opportunity to see the field against Ecuador in Orlando on March 21st, or against Chile in Houston on March 26th is yet to be seen. But RSL fans can be proud of the fact that once again RSL has a player featuring regularly with the national team.