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Orebro's Bedoya looking to develop further with US national team

Orebro SK midfielder Alejandro Bedoya is looking to develop his game even further whilst in camp with the USA national team.

The 23-year old will be the most-capped player (with six) in the US team when they take on Chile on Saturday and he admits it feels weird to be one of the more experienced players after getting a surprise call-up last year.

But Bedoya sees this as an opportunity to take his game to a new level, surrounded by other young and promising players in the US set up.

"It's kind of crazy," Bedoya told boston.com. "I saw my name on the list and I was the most-capped guy. I never expected to be one of the most experienced guys at national team camp. But, obviously, a lot has changed and expectations are a little different.

"For me, being here last January was a huge motivating factor. Starting the year out with the national team, I was able to bring back what I learned from playing and the confidence I got to my club team.

"And that translated across the board. We (Orebro) were more confident and expected more out of each other and we finished in third place, the club's best finish in a really long time. And everyone on our team was upset. It might sound greedy, but we felt we could have finished in the top two or even in first place."

And Bedoya, who joined the Swedish Allsvenskan side in 2009, said the decision to go to Europe ahead of the MLS has helped him improve his game.

"I'll say it to anybody: I have no regrets. I benefited a lot from going over there, more so than I would have in the MLS," he added. "I improved as a player and I matured as a person. If I had been in the MLS, I maybe would not have worked as hard. You can get too comfortable."

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Andrew Slevison
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