The FC Dallas midfielders Dax McCarty and Anthony Wallace today were named by United States Under-20 Men's National Team head coach Thomas Rongen to the 21-man player roster that will represent the U.S. at the 2007 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Canada, from June 30-July 22. The roster features 14 professional players, the most ever for a U.S. Under-20 World Cup team. The two will report to the U.S. team following FCD's game on Sunday, June 17 at Toronto FC (12 pm CT, live on Telefutura).
"Wally's (Anthony Wallace) been around with the U.S. team for a while and earned his place," said FC Dallas head coach Steve Morrow. "It's especially rewarding for Dax, he's worked his way back on the team after some great performances for us. We're excited for them and hope they're successful, but disappointed they're going to be leaving us."
McCarty, in his second year with FCD, is one of four players to have played in all 13 FC Dallas games this year. His four assists lead the team, and places him third in MLS. The rookie Wallace, who was the team's first pick in the 2007 MLS SuperDraft, has yet to appear in a first-team game for FCD this season.
"We looked at about 80 players and narrowed it down to 21," said U.S. U-20 head coach Thomas Rongen. ""We feel that through playing games in qualifying and through camps, that we have a good handle on this age group and that we've made some great selections for this team to go forward and hopefully do something special during the World Cup."
The U.S. was drawn into Group D with Korea Republic, Poland and Brazil. This is the sixth straight appearance for the U.S. in the world championship and their 11th overall. The U.S. opens against Korea Republic on June 30, then faces Poland on July 3 and concludes group play on July 6 against four-time U-20 world champions Brazil.
The U.S. will play Korea Republic and Poland at The Olympic Stadium in Montreal, before heading to Ottawa to face Brazil at Frank Clair Stadium. Every U.S. match at the U-20 World Cup will be broadcast live on ESPNU, and can be followed live via ussoccer.com's MatchTracker. The 24-team field is divided into six groups of four, with the top two teams from each group and the top four (of six) third-place teams advancing to the Round of 16. The 52-match tournament will take place at six venues in Canada with games in Burnaby, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Victoria. Each game will be broadcast on ESPNU and ESPN360.com.
With 11 players from Major League Soccer and three from overseas clubs, the U.S. will be playing with more professionals at a FIFA U-20 World Cup than ever before. In Tim Ward, Robbie Rogers and Danny Szetela, the Columbus Crew send the biggest club contingent, while FC Dallas (Dax McCarty and Anthony Wallace) and Real Salt Lake (Freddy Adu and Chris Seitz) each send a pair. D.C. United will be represented on the team by midfielder Bryan Arguez, while defenders Nathan Sturgis and Amaechi Igwe play for the L.A. Galaxy and New England Revolution, respectively. Rounding out the MLS group is Altidore, who has scored three goals and three assists for the N.Y. Red Bulls.
The 21 players on the World Cup roster will arrive in Somerset, N.J. on June 17 for training before departing for Montreal. The team will also play a preparation game against Chile at Giants Stadium on June 23, with kickoff set for 2 p.m. ET (tickets).
