U.S. Copa victim wins spot with Bundesliga club

The good people at Yanks Abroad are reporting that 22-year-old defender Heath Pearce has signed a till 2009 for newly promoted Bundesliga club Hansa Rostock.

Pearce, a left back, was selected to Bradley's ill-fated 0-3 Copa America squad and started the final match against Colombia, a 1-0 loss and their most respectable scoreline of the tournament. He didn't factor much in the match, but few players distinguished themselves in Venezuela. He has a total of seven caps for the national team.

During Bruce Arena's time as coach of the national team, Pearce was considered behind both Frankie Hejduk and Todd Dunivant on the depth chart. He doesn't seem to be making much progress under Bradley, who clearly brought mainly bubble players to Copa America to determine U.S. depth.

Left back has been a troublesome position for the U.S. Arena used Bobby Convey, Eddie Lewis and John O'Brien, none of which were traditional left backs (except maybe O'Brien who didn't start his career there but played in that spot for Ajax often).

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