Whitbread, speaking to the club's official website, said: I'm delighted to be called up. I've been with the squad a couple of times before but I wasn't expecting this. It came as a bit of a surprise but it's a great honour and I'm really looking forward to it.
"We have a good squad of players, who are physically strong and good on the ball, but people still underestimate the USA when it comes to soccer despite the success of the senior team at the last World Cup.
"We've been drawn in a group alongside Germany, Korea and Paraguay. Hopefully we can get through the group and take it from there."