Dwyer gets call-up to national team

Former Bulls standout Dom Dwyer scored 16 goals in 21 games his junior season.
 SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

Four months ago, former USF soccer player Dom Dwyer wasn’t an American citizen.

Now, after securing his American citizenship in March, the England native has been called upon to join the U.S. men’s national team for the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup beginning July 7. 

“It’s an incredible honor to represent the United States for the first time,” Dwyer said in a statement. “I want to thank everyone who has helped me make this goal a reality.” 

Dwyer first moved to the United States in 2009 to play soccer at Tyler Junior College in Texas. He led the school to consecutive national championships and won the Junior College Player of the Year award his sophomore season.

In 2011, he transferred to USF where he would continue his prolific goal scoring.

In his only season as a Bull, Dwyer led the Big East with 16 goals and was named the Big East Conference Player of the Year. He then led the way for the 2011 Bulls as they became the only team in Big East history to go undefeated in conference play and made it into the Elite 8 of the NCAA tournament.

His play at USF caught the eye of Sporting KC, which used the No. 16 pick in the 2012 MLS Super Draft to select Dwyer. He would lift the MLS Cup in his first season with the club in 2013.

Dwyer has scored 57 regular-season goals since he joined the MLS, the fourth most in that time frame. As the goals continued to come, so did the attention from U.S. men’s national team coach Bruce Arena.

“Dom’s a very good player,” Arena said in May. “He has just become eligible and is certainly on our radar. I’m hopeful between now and the end of summer we’ll have an opportunity to have him play for the U.S.”

The United States hasn’t won a tournament since the 2013 Gold Cup, the same season Dwyer won the MLS Cup with Sporting KC.

For Dwyer, the call-up to represent the U.S. is a dream come true regardless of how the team performs in the tournament.

“I’ve lived here for about nine years now in the U.S.,” Dwyer told ESPNFC. “I wasn’t born here, but this is, if not my second home, my home. I think any footballer, you want to play on the international stage. That’s the biggest there is. To play for your country would be amazing.”