CHICAGO - U.S. Under-20 men's national team head coach Sigi Schmid has named FC Dallas midfielder Arturo Alvarez to the 20-man roster for the Suwon International Youth Tournament in Suwon, South Korea, from March 22-26. The Under-20s will face Argentina, Egypt and South Korea in the four-team tournament, which will serve as preparation for the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in Holland from June 10-July 2.
Alvarez, 19, will be looking to burst into the starting squad of the U-20 national team after recently moving from the San Jose Earthquakes to FC Dallas in a trade last January.
"Personally, I just want to play whether it is with my National Team or with my club," said Alvarez. "It should be interesting as we are playing very tough teams in Argentina, Egypt and South Korea. Two of these opponents (Argentina and Egypt) are in our group for the World Youth Championships in Holland, so it will definitely help in our preparation."
The U.S. will arrive in South Korea early on Sunday, March 20, and have two days of training before opening the round-robin tournament against Argentina on Tuesday, March 22 at 4:30 p.m. local time (1:30 a.m. CST). The U.S. will then meet the host two days later at 7 p.m. local time (4 a.m. CST), before concluding play against Egypt on Saturday, March 26 at 12:30 p.m. local time (9:30 p.m. ET on Friday, March 25). All of the matches in the tournament will be played at Suwon World Cup Stadium, the location of the full U.S. men's national team's historic 3-2 upset of Portugal in their opening match of the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
"I spoke with Sigi (Schmid) and it seems like he has a great chance of making the final roster that will go to Holland," said FC Dallas Head Coach Colin Clarke. "It is always an honor for a player to be called to National Team duty and I am very happy for Arturo. We will miss him during his absence, but this experience will obviously help him as a player and will help FC Dallas when he returns."
The U.S. qualified for Holland '05 with a first-place finish in Group A of the CONCACAF Under-20 qualifying tournament at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., in January. The U.S. opened the tournament with a 6-1 thrashing of Trinidad & Tobago before collecting identical 2-0 shutouts against Panama and Costa Rica. The impressive performance marked the first time the U.S. U-20s went undefeated and finished in sole possession of first place in CONCACAF qualifying.
