Veteran keeper Kasey Keller will join the U.S. national team Thursday, two days before its opening game at the Gold Cup against South Korea (pay-per-view, 6 pm ET). Keller, whose greatest exploit was leading the United States past Brazil, 1-0, in the 1998 Gold Cup semifinals, was supposed to join the U.S. training camp in California at the beginning of January but begged off when he finally started in goal for English Premier League club Tottenham Dec. 29 and Jan. 1. But after only two Premier League starts (1-1 tie at Aston Villa and 1-0 win over Blackburn Rovers), Spurs manager Glenn Hoddle put Scottish international Neil Sullivan back in goal, freeing Keller to join the national team. Keller had lost the U.S. No. 1 job to Brad Friedel last fall when Keller moved from Rayo Vallecano to Spurs and didn’t play. Friedel, the starting goalie for Blackburn Rovers, is skipping the Gold Cup along with all other U.S. national team players playing regularly abroad.