The United States Under-23 squad isn't the only junior team going camping. On Friday, Under-20 head coach Tab Ramos unveiled a list of 26 players – led by Vancouver Whitecaps forward Omar Salgado (above) and Chicago Fire midfielder Victor Pineda – that will gather for training camp in Clermont, Fla., from Feb. 20 until March 1.
Among the squad are four Developmental Academy players, 10 collegiate players and 10 players signed to the professional ranks. Nineteen of the 26 players summoned are academy alumni.
Mexican side Santos Laguna contributed the most campers, with Daniel Cuevas, Jesus Guzman and Benji Joya all representing los Guerreros. California and North Carolina followed, as each school contributed two players – Seth Casiple and Christian Dean, and Mikey Lopez and Boyd Okwuonu, respectively – to the cause.
Other standouts include Tigres UANL's Juan Pablo Ocegueda and the European contingent of Villyan Bijev, Sean Cunningham, Matt Dunn and Kamil Kaminski.
In all, 14 players are returning from the January U-20 camp in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., including Salgado and Cunningham. Both were also on the roster for Ramos’ first camp in Duisberg, Germany, in November of last year.
The February training camp, which will include matches against the FC Dallas reserves on Feb. 26 and Montreal Impact reserves three days later, will serve as preparation for the upcoming 2013 CONCACAF U-20 Championship.
US U-20 men's national team roster:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Tomas Gomez (Georgetown Univ.; Webster Groves, Mo.), Jesus Guzman (Santos Laguna; San Jose, Calif.), Kamil Kaminski (Legia Warszawa; Berlin, Conn.)
DEFENDERS (8): A.J. Cochran (Univ. of Wisconsin; St. Louis), Sean Cunningham (Molde FK; Troy, Mich.), Christian Dean (Univ. of California; East Palo Alto, Calif.), Mobi Fehr (Unattached; Tokyo), Eric Miller (Creighton Univ.; Woodbury, Minn.), Juan Pablo Ocegueda (Tigres UANL; Riverside, Calif.), Boyd Okwuonu (Univ. of North Carolina; Edmund, Okla.), Walker Zimmerman (Furman Univ.; Lawrenceville, Ga.).
MIDFIELDERS (10): Seth Casiple (Univ. of California; Rocklin, Calif.), Daniel Cuevas (Santos Laguna; Sacramento, Calif.), Matt Dunn (OFK Beograd; Dallas), Daniel Garcia (FC Dallas Academy; Dallas), Alejandro Guido (Unattached; Chula Vista, Calif.), Benji Joya (Santos Laguna; San Jose, Calif.), Mikey Lopez (Univ. of North Carolina; Mission, Texas), Collin Martin (D.C. United Academy; Chevy Chase, Md.), Daniel Metzger (Univ. of Maryland; Staten Island, N.Y.), Victor Pineda (Chicago Fire; Bollingbrook, Ill.)
FORWARDS (5): Villyan Bijev (Fortuna Düsseldorf; Fresno, Calif.), Alfred Koroma (Solar Chelsea SC; Southlake, Texas), Sean Okoli (Wake Forest Univ.; Federal Way, Wash.), Andrew Oliver (Chicago Fire Academy; Indianapolis.), Omar Salgado (Vancouver Whitecaps; El Paso, Texas)
