We've had some discussion about how long Nellie will be gone for the Confederations Cup. The link below gives us some further idea about that, as well as letting us know that New Zealand will be playing the US as an eastern US city on June 8th. According to the article, the NZ team will assemble in England on May 22nd, play at Scotland on May 27th, fly to the States, play the US on June 5th, then go to France where they open on the 18th. http://xtramsn.co.nz/sport/0,,3952-2274332,00.html If Nellie is going to meet them in England on the 22nd, he'll miss at least five United games (5/31@DAL, 6/7v.CHI, 6/11@COLO, 6/14v.COLU, 6/21v.NE). If they advance from the group stage, he'll likely miss two more (6/28@COLU and probably 7/2@DAL). On a separate note, Goff reported not long ago that the USSF was looking for a new opponent and venue when the Portugal-at-Foxboro idea fell through. It looks like they have the opponent. I hope RFK is still in the mix for the game.
It'll be after the European seasons have ended, so why not? (assuming a good many of their players play there -- do they?) As the biggest underdogs in the tournament, they could use the time together. Maybe Nellie will join them in the States, meaning he'd play for us in the Dallas game and just miss four games.
Further details on New Zealand's official site. http://www.nzsoccer.com/index.cfm?PageGroupID=1&articleid=457
As my few brain cells seem to recall, MLS will not have to release Nellie (and Elliott and Oughton) to go to England so far ahead of the actual games. I presume that he'll play @ Dallas.
I have no idea if many of their guys play in Europe?? And yes, hopefully Nelsen will not have to join them that early.
They only required to release him five days before the Confederations Cup (which begins on June 18th), as per http://apps.fifa.com/scripts/runisa.dll?m2.131690:gp:282846:67173+mrel/Display+52347+E . With a friendly vs. the US on 6/8, that wipes out the 6/7 Chicago game and I'd bet we don't force him to play the Colorado game on 6/11, which would fit within the rules. As for the training in England and the Scotland friendly, it'll be interesting to see if they ask for his release and what United's response is (they name the squad on 4/28, so we should hear about it around then).
While I wish Nelsen the best in his International career, his going away to International games is going to be very rough on DC United. DC United needs him badly, so I don't think they will be releasing him sooner than they need to. Unless of course DC United is sitting pretty in first place by then.