For all the exciting things happening to Luis Robles lately, even he would admit one aspect of his life is a little lame.
"I have a 30-hour honeymoon," said the former soccer player at Sierra Vista Buena High School. Appearing at Arizona Pro Soccer Camp at Salpointe Catholic High School on Monday, the newly minted member of the United States national soccer team laid out his plans for the next few weeks:
1. Recover. Robles, 25, married Cara Youngblood on Sunday in front of about 300 friends and family at the Windemere Hotel in Sierra Vista. Also Sunday, Robles learned officially of his roster assignment for the Confederations Cup in South Africa.
Robles knew early last week he had made the team — he already had his airline ticket purchased for him.
"It definitely added to the wedding, just because all the emotion of getting married, my family being there and being part of it, but knowing that career-wise it’s also going well, too," the goalkeeper said, smiling. "Knowing that I’ll be able to support my wife.
"There were a lot of emotions going on this week."
2. Travel. Robles boards a 5:30 a.m. flight today to Washington, D.C., where he then will transfer to a direct flight to Johannesburg. The United States plays Italy on Monday.
If the U.S. loses in pool play — it will also face Brazil and Egypt — the team will travel to Seattle to train for the Gold Cup. The Americans open play July 4 against Grenada.
Cara will do a little traveling too — to Mexico, where she and Robles were going to honeymoon before the national team called.
"Hopefully when it’s all said and done, we’ll have more time," he said. "But now I think Cara’s going with some friends."
3. Play? Robles will be the team’s third goalkeeper, meaning he likely won’t see game action. But he has a chance to make next year’s World Cup team.
Robles was first asked to join the team in December, but his professional club, FC Kaiserslautern in Germany, wouldn’t release him.
Robles didn’t practice with the national team for the first time until late May.
"It’s very late in the game, but I have no reason to think it can’t be the perfect time," he said. "The one thing that’s advantageous to me is that I’m playing for a big club and I’m young.
"I don’t have the expectation of going in trying to be the starter. But I do have the expectation of learning and growing and, hopefully, one day being the U.S. national team goalkeeper."
