Crew SC announced this morning that defender Harrison Afful and midfielder Rodrigo Saravia have been called into their national teams for meaningful games later this month, kicking off what will be a busy season of international duty for several players on the Crew's roster.

Afful, a regular with Ghana, was summoned for a pair of African Cup of Nations qualifiers against Mozambique to be played on March 24 and March 27.

Saravia, the Crew's first-round pick in the January SuperDraft, was called in by Guatemala for a two World Cup qualifiers against the United States on March 25 (Guatemala City) and March 29 (Mapfre Stadium). Saravia...

Crew SC announced this morning that defender Harrison Afful and midfielder Rodrigo Saravia have been called into their national teams for meaningful games later this month, kicking off what will be a busy season of international duty for several players on the Crew�s roster.

Afful, a regular with Ghana, was summoned for a pair of African Cup of Nations qualifiers against Mozambique to be played on March 24 and March 27.

Saravia, the Crew�s first-round pick in the January SuperDraft, was called in by Guatemala for a two World Cup qualifiers against the United States on March 25 (Guatemala City) and March 29 (Mapfre Stadium). Saravia played his first game for Costa Rica last month.

Neither is expected to miss an MLS game during their call-ups. The Crew plays Saturday at Chicago and will not play again until it plays at Dallas on April 2.

Justin Meram (Iraq), Wil Trapp (U.S. Olympic qualifying), Waylon Francis (Costa Rica), Cedrick Mabwati (DR Congo) and Tony Tchani (Cameroon, maybe) could also be called by their countries for qualifiers later this month.

--Shawn Mitchell

smitchell@dispatch.com

@smitchcd