Alejando Bedoya simply couldn't shake the fever that kept him out of US national team training sessions this week. In his place, Bobby Wood arrives to augment Jurgen Klinsmann's squad ahead of Saturday night's CONCACAF Cup clash (9:30 pm ET; FS1, Univision, UDN).
The roster changed was announced by Klinsmann on Friday, when Bedoya was officially ruled out. The World Cup veteran, who has a 1-1 record in tilts against Mexico, made every effort to shake the illness.
"Ale can't make it, he got sick," Klinsmann told reporters. "It's as simple as that.
"He got a fever and he didn't train for two days and he's still not where he should be. He'll be replaced by Bobby Wood. It's a bummer for Ale because he was burning for this game. But it is just what it is. We got that switch today and Bobby Wood will be on the bench.”
The Union Berlin forward was quickly summoned to Los Angeles to potentially square off against an archrival he's yet to face in a tense winner-takes-all situation.
As a late addition to the squad coming off a long travel, Wood could be in line for duty off the bench. He discussed just that eventuality for Saturday's big contest in a recent interview with MLSsoccer.com.
"Honestly, every time you play, you want to give your all," Wood told MLSsoccer.com last week. "A substitute's job is to bring a fresh wind into the game, catch everyone off guard. That will be my plan if called [into that situation]."
The 22-year-old knows a thing about the topic, having hopped off the bench to score consecutive friendly winners away to Germany and the Netherlands. In club life, Wood has hit four times with an assist in his first 10 league starts for Union Berlin.
