PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland Timbers midfielders Cristhian Paredes, Renzo Zambrano and Andrés Flores have been called up by their respective countries for international matches. Paredes will join Paraguay for friendlies against Japan on Sept. 5 and Jordan on Sept. 10. Flores has been called in by El Salvador for Concacaf Nations League matches against St. Lucia and the Dominican Republic on Sept. 7 and Sept. 10, respectively, while Zambrano will join Venezuela for a friendly against Colombia on Sept. 10.
All three players will miss the Timbers’ league match against Sporting Kansas City on Saturday, Sept. 7, but will return to the team ahead of Portland’s regular-season match against D.C. United at Providence Park on Sunday, Sept. 15.
Paredes and Paraguay will face Japan at the Kirin Challenge Cup 2019 at Kashima Soccer Stadium, in Kashima, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, on Thursday, Sept. 5, beginning at 3:20 a.m. (Pacific). Five days later, Paraguay will travel to face Jordan at Amman International Stadium in Amman, Jordan, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, beginning at 5 a.m. (Pacific). Paredes, 21, has earned two caps for the Paraguay Men’s National Team, coming on as a second-half substitute in a friendly against France on June 2, 2017, and once again on November 20, 2018, in the Nelson Mandela Challenge against South Africa.
Zambrano, 25, will join the Venezuela Men’s National Team ahead of a friendly match against Colombia at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. on Tuesday, Sept. 10, beginning at 5 p.m. (Pacific). Zambrano has earned four caps for Venezuela since making his debut and recording an assist in a 5-0 win over Bolivia in a 2018 World Cup qualifying match on Nov. 11, 2016. More recently, Zambrano made substitute appearance on June 2, 2019, in an international friendly against Ecuador.
Flores, 29, has been capped 64 times for El Salvador since making his debut in 2010, more recently featuring in two matches during the 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup. El Salvador will play host to St. Lucia at Estadio Cuscatlán in San Salvador, El Salvador, on Saturday, Sept. 7; kickoff is set for 7 p.m. (Pacific). El Salvador then will take on the Dominican Republic at Estadio OlÃmpico Félix Sánchez in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on Tuesday, Sept. 10; kickoff is set for 3 p.m. (Pacific).
