Several hundred players will play at this summer’s World Cup. But the one who will have travelled the longest road to get there probably will not have come from New Zealand, North Korea or even Honduras. He’ll have come from Green Bay, Wis.

We’re talking about Jay DeMerit, of course, who has gone from being a non-prospect without a prayer of playing on the world’s biggest stages to a national team regular who’ll feature this summer in South Africa.

His medical situation wasn’t nearly as serious as those of teammates Oguchi Onyewu and Charlie Davies, yet U.S. defender Jay DeMerit was undergo eye surgery last year in London.

DeMerit was suffering from an eye infection and was needed to have the cornea in his left eye replaced. The procedure was performed by Dr. Julian Stevens at the Moorfields Eye Hospital in a new procedure that DeMerit said cut his recovery time in half.

In mid-September, a bacterial infection arose in DeMerit’s right eye like a sudden storm. Within 24 hours, 70 percent of the tissue in the cornea had essentially melted. He could barely see his fingers in front of his face. He worried that he might not be able to play in the World Cup. Or that he might have to retire from soccer altogether.

Luckily for DeMerit, he had a corneal transplant done by a renowned surgeon using the latest laser techniques and only missed a month and a half of action rather than missing two years and he is ready to play and win now in World Cup .