STANFORD, Calif. – Corey Baird has been named to the final 23-player travel roster by U.S. Men's National Team head coach Gregg Berhalter for upcoming matches against Panama and Costa Rica.
The MNT hosts Panama on Jan. 27 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. (5 p.m. PT; ESPN2, UniMás, UDN). The USA then closes its annual January Camp with a match against Costa Rica on Feb. 2 at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, Calif. (12:30 p.m. PT; FOX, UniMás, UDN).
A three-time NCAA champion with the Cardinal, Baird would become the third member of Stanford's 2015 title-winning team to earn a national team cap should he appear in either match. Jordan Morris has 25 caps, including eight starts, since 2014 and Brandon Vincent played in a match against Canada on Feb. 5, 2016 following that year's January camp.
He earned his first senior call-up after an award-winning season for Real Salt Lake that saw him take home MLS Rookie of the Year honors. He led all rookies in scoring with eight goals and added five assists, was seventh on his club with 1,903 minutes and finished third on RSL in goals. Baird has previously appeared for the U.S. U-17, U-18, U-20 and U-23 National Teams.
Baird, who signed a Homegrown Player contract with RSL in early January, was a key catalyst that powered the Cardinal to three consecutive national championships, four straight Pac-12 titles and a 65-10-13 overall record (.813) during his four seasons on The Farm.
He tallied 16 goals in 83 career appearances to go along with 30 assists, tied with Roger Levesque for third in program history. Baird's 13 assists during Stanford's first championship run in 2015 were the most for a Cardinal player in 24 years. He had a career-high six goals as a senior despite missing five early-season matches due to injury and assisted on seven others.
A four-time All-Pac-12 selection, Baird was a first teamer as a junior and senior and second teamer as a freshman and sophomore. He was named to the College Cup All-Tournament teams in both 2015 and 2016 and last year earned a spot on the United Soccer Coaches All-Far West Region first team. He was a NSCAA All-Far West Region second team performer in 2014 and was also a freshman All-American according to Soccer America and College Soccer News.
