Sixteen players, including seven current Major League Soccer players and one MLS veteran, have been called into a four-day camp for the U.S. under-20 men's national team by head coach Thomas Rongen. The side will gather in Sunrise, Fla., on Sunday and train for three days before facing Haiti's U-23 team in a closed-door match Wednesday. The U.S. side is currently preparing for 2007 U-20 CONCACAF Final Round qualifying tournament for next summer's U-20 World Cup in Canada.
In all, 10 professionals have been called up, including former MetroStars midfielder Michael Bradley, who now plays for Heerenveen in the Dutch first division.
"While it is a short camp, this is a great opportunity for us to have a large number of our professional players together for an international match, while also taking a look at a couple other players from the college ranks that have not been in with us before," said Rongen. "A few of our professional players have been in at least one camp this year, but we've never been able to bring so many of our top players together for a single camp. It will be valuable to be able to put them on the field at the same time against Haiti as we continue to prepare for qualifying early next year."
Two players each from the Los Angeles Galaxy and Columbus Crew lead the MLS representatives. L.A. midfielder Quavas Kirk and defender Nathan Sturgis have both had solid rookie campaigns, while the Crew midfield pair of Tim Ward and Danny Szetela have had on-and-off sophomore campaigns. Ward has seen time both in midfield and defense for the Crew, while injuries limited Szetela to just four appearances this season.
The most experienced player on the U.S roster is D.C. United midfielder Freddy Adu, who has played in the last two World Youth Championships. Galaxy forward Quavas Kirk, New England Revolution midfielder Miguel Gonzalez and Chivas USA midfielder Rodrigo Lopez round out the MLS representation, with Kirk bringing the most professional experience after seeing time in 20 games this season for L.A.
Group A of the 2007 CONCACAF Under-20 Final Round will take place from Jan. 17-21 in Panama City, Panama. All six matches will take place at the Estadio Rommel Fernandez. Group B will occur a month later from Feb. 21-25 in Culiacan, Sinaloa, which is on the Western coast of Mexico. All six matches will take place at Estadio Carlos Gonzalez y Gonzalez.
The U.S. will join hosts Panama and Mexico in the final qualifying groups, along with Guatemala, Costa Rica and three teams from the Caribbean qualification. The top two squads from each of these groups will qualify for the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada, which will take place from June 30-July 22 across six cities - Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, Burnaby and Victoria.
U.S. UNDER-20 NATIONAL TEAM
GOALKEEPERS: Brian Perk (UCLA), Joe Willis (Univ. of Denver)
DEFENDERS: Nick Cardenas (San Diego State Univ.), Amaechi Igwe (Santa Clara Univ.), Nathan Sturgis (Los Angeles Galaxy), Tim Ward (Columbus Crew)
MIDFIELDERS: Freddy Adu (D.C. United), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen/NED), Miguel Gonzalez (New England Revolution), Rodrigo Lopez (Chivas USA), Stephen McCarthy (Santa Clara Univ.), Danny Szetela (Columbus Crew)
FORWARDS: Rodrigo Hidalgo (Univ. of South Florida), Quavas Kirk (L.A. Galaxy), Robbie Rogers (SC Heerenveen/NED), Johann Smith (Bolton FC/ENG)
Jonathan Nierman is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
