All three of the MLS Cup champion LA Galaxy’s Homegrown players are among the 24-man roster called up on Thursday by Tab Ramos for US Under-20 national team camp, the team’s final gathering of the calendar year.
LA's Jose Villarreal, Jack McBean (both pictured above) and newly signed Oscar Sorto represent a half-dozen MLS players on the squad, alongside Real Salt Lake midfielder Luis Gil, Colorado defender Shane O’Neill and Columbus midfielder Wil Trapp, who was signed by the Crew on Thursday to a Homegrown deal.
Ramos is preparing his squad for the 2013 CONCACAF U-20 Championship in Mexico, which will kick off in February and doubles as the qualifying tournament for next summer’s FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey.
The MLS representatives make up half the 12 professional players summoned by Ramos, who also include Southampton goalkeeper Cody Cropper, Liverpool midfielder Marc Pelosi and Santos Laguna duo Benji Joya and Daniel Cuevas.
The other half of the 24-man squad comprises college players, including Georgetown University duo Brandon Allen and Tomas Gomez, who helped the Hoyas reach their first College Cup final last weekend.
The squad will begin gathering in Sunrise, Fla., on Saturday through Dec. 22. The team will play two closed-door matches – an intrasquad scrimmage on Dec. 18 and a friendly against Venezuela on Dec. 21. Both games will be closed to the public.
FULL US UNDER-20 ROSTER
GOALKEEPERS (3): Cody Cropper (Southampton FC; Maple Grove, Minn.), Tomas Gomez (Georgetown; Webster Groves, Mo.), Kendall McIntosh (Santa Clara; Santa Rosa, Calif.)
DEFENDERS (6): Dakota Edwards (Maryland; Sayville, N.Y.), Juan Pablo Ocegueda (unattached; Riverside, Calif.), Boyd Okwuonu (North Carolina; Edmund, Okla.), Shane O’Neill (Colorado Rapids; Boulder, Colo.), Oscar Sorto (LA Galaxy; Los Angeles), Javan Torre (UCLA; Santa Monica, Calif.)
MIDFIELDERS (8): Luis Gil (Real Salt Lake; Garden Grove, Calif.), Benji Joya (Santos Laguna; San Jose, Calif.), Mikey Lopez (North Carolina; Mission, Texas), Collin Martin (Wake Forest; Chevy Chase, Md.), Daniel Metzger (Maryland; Holmdel, N.J.), Marc Pelosi (Liverpool FC; Sunnyvale, Calif.), Caleb Stanko (SC Freiburg; Holly, Mich.), Wil Trapp (Akron; Gahanna, Ohio)
FORWARDS (7): Brandon Allen (Georgetown; Old Bridge, N.J.), Daniel Cuevas (Santos Laguna; Sacramento, Calif.), Daniel Garcia (North Carolina; Dallas), Darius Madison (Virginia; Philadelphia, Pa.), Jack McBean (LA Galaxy; Newport Beach, Calif.), Mario Rodriguez (1. FC Kaiserslautern; North Hollywood, Calif.), Jose Villarreal (LA Galaxy; Inglewood, Calif.)
