Hamid gets called to return to USMNT

D.C. United goalkeeper and academy product Bill Hamid has received his second national team call up. This follows the recent news of fellow D.C. United teammates Dwayne De Rosario and Dejan Jakovic getting called to represent Canada in World Cup qualifying and former MLS Rookie of the Year award winner Andy Najar recieving his first national team call up to represent Hondurus.

U.S. Soccer announced today that United goalkeeper Bill Hamid has been called-up to the U.S. Men’s National Team for two friendly matches against Costa Rica and Belgium. Jurgen Klinsmann’s squad will host Costa Rica at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. on September 2 and will then travel to Brussels to face Belgium on September 6.

Bill Hamid was recently called-up by the U.S. Men’s National Team for the friendly match against Mexico on August 10, which resulted in a 1-1 draw. Although he did not take part in the match, Hamid was able to gain valuable experience training alongside veteran goalkeeper Tim Howard.

In his second full season with D.C. United, Hamid has been the first-choice goalkeeper since recovering from off-season shoulder surgery. To date, he has played in 19 games (all starts) and put together a record of 5-4-8 to go along with six shutouts. In 2010, Hamid became the youngest goalkeeper in MLS history to win a League contest on May 5 against Kansas City in a 2-1 victory at RFK Stadium, beating the previous record held by former New York netminder - and fellow U.S. Men’s National Team call-up - Tim Howard. He put together a record of 3-5 in eight games for the Black-and-Red, posting one shutout and 20 saves en route to a 1.25 goals-against average mark. Hamid made United history on 9/2/09, when he became the first D.C. United Academy player to sign with the first team. As the first player to come up through the club’s youth system, Hamid was only available for non-League games during the 2009 season and did not see any playing time.

In Philadelphia following the U.S. vs. Mexico friendly Howard told VASoccerNews:

"Bill reminds me a lot of myself when I was younger." That is quite a compliment coming from the reigning number one net minder for the USMNT.

Hamid also has experience at the youth national team levels, having spent time with the U.S. U-18 and U-20 sides. In 2008, he traveled to Portugal with the U-20s to play in the Campos Verdes International Tournament and to Mexico for Copa Chivas.