Wells gets invite to U.S. camp

Goalkeeper will join men’s national team Wednesday in Carson.Zach Wells received quite a Christmas present, and it didn’t matter that it came two days late.

The Newport Harbor High grad was selected to the roster for the U.S. men’s national soccer team training camp, which opens Wednesday in Carson. The 30-man squad will prepare for a series of three international friendly matches in January and February.

This is the first time Wells has been called up to the national team in any capacity, though he was a member of the U.S. under-20 national team pool in 2000, while he was at UCLA.

Wells, who completed his second Major League Soccer season with the MetroStars, replaces the Columbus Crew’s Jonny Walker on the training camp roster. Walker, who started ahead of Wells on the MetroStars in 2004, had to back out due to injury.

Wells is one of four goalkeepers on Coach Bruce Arena’s training-camp roster. Joining him are Chivas USA’s Brad Guzan, the Los Angeles Galaxy’s Kevin Hartman and New England Revolution keeper Matt Reis.

The camp is designed to help Arena evaluate potential members of the U.S. team for this year’s World Cup in Germany. Wells is considered a longshot at best to make the roster for Germany.

The goalkeeper was a third-round draft pick of the MetroStars in 2004. He played in two games as a rookie and started 17 games last season, compiling a 6-4-7 record with a 1.24 goals-against-average -- sixth in MLS -- and four shutouts.

Wells joined the professional ranks after a standout career at UCLA, in which he set the school career record for saves with 269 and set the single-season mark for goals-against-average with 0.52. He was a three-time All-Pac 10 conference selection. He was the College Cup Defensive MVP in 2002 after posting a shutout in the Bruins’ 1-0 victory over Stanford to the championship game.