Maryland goalkeeper Zac MacMath’s European adventure shouldn’t exactly be considered a vacation.
MacMath was recently in Portugal for an international tournament that had its ups and downs. MacMath and his U-18 teammates beat Finland and drew Germany, but he also suffered a minor elbow injury in a 1-0 loss to Portugal.
Next up for MacMath are the Maccabi Games in July, an international competition held in Israel where he’ll represent the U.S. team.
After that, it’s on to Northern Ireland for another national team event.
When that ends, MacMath will finally head back stateside for the start of the Terp soccer preseason. It’ll be quite the journey, but his depleted defense will need all the progress and experience it can get.
As for his fall plans? Well, speculation that he might be named to the U-20 roster for the upcoming U-20 World Cup in September/October now seems unfounded. MacMath was not among 18 players coach Thomas Rongen will take to Cairo in preparation for the event. Expect to see him in Colombia for the 2011 edition, though.
Jonas Shaffer is The Diamondback’s men’s soccer beat writer. He can be reached at shaffer@umdbk.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/jonas_shaffer.