Photo by Kyle Gustafson.

“I’m not going to be content. I want to make the World Cup team.”

A lofty goal from a player that hasn’t suited up for his country in more than four years, sure; but knowing the man and the story behind those words, anything seems possible — yes, D.C. United’s Santino Quaranta will once again wear the shirt of his country. Rosters for the 2009 Gold Cup, CONCACAF’s yearly tournament were released on Thursday, and wouldn’t you know it, there was Santino’s name, nestled in among the mostly-MLS based squad.

“It’s been such a long way back for me, personally,” said Quaranta in a video statement posted to United’s website yesterday. “This callup shows the amount of hard work I’ve put in, and the reward is that I get to be a part of the national team again.”

It’s but another step for the attacking midfielder, whose battles with drug addiction are well-documented. But anyone assuming that this is a feel-good, sympathetic choice on the part of national team coach Bob Bradley obviously hasn’t seen enough United matches this season — Quaranta’s been one of the club’s better players this season: always quick to give the team a lift, scoring timely goals, and providing solid two-way play.

With all the recent fireworks surrounding the national side, it’ll be interesting to see if ‘Tino can crack the starting lineup for a tournament in which the United States has historically performed well. The cup runs from July 3-26, including a doubleheader on July 8th at RFK Stadium in which the U.S. will take on Honduras. Up top, Quaranta will likely be hard-pressed to break past established strikers like Kenny Cooper, Brian Ching, and Charlie Davies, but the attacking midfield/winger role which he usually fills with United appears to be a fairly wide open competition.

“It’s an honor to get to put that jersey on,” Quaranta, who has 11 caps for the U.S. senior team in his career, reflected. “Not many people get to do it.”