US Under-20 men's national team head coach Tab Ramos on Monday named a 22-player roster for the upcoming 2013 Toulon Tournament, which will provide the Americans their final chance to fine-tune things before this summer's U-20 World Cup in Turkey.
Of the players on the roster, seven currently play for MLS teams or academies, including Columbus Crew midfielder Wil Trapp, LA Galaxy defender Oscar Sorto and Sporting Kansas City midfielder Mikey Lopez. Other notable names on the team for the tournament that runs from May 28-June 8 are Santos Laguna's Benji Joya and Daniel Cuevas and Southampton goalkeeper Cody Cropper.
One player not named to the team is Hertha Berlin center back John Anthony Brooks, a dual-national who has received interest from the German federation in recent months but has yet to declare his international allegiances.
“Obviously we’re excited for the tournament and to have this last chance to evaluate our team heading into the U-20 World Cup,” Ramos said in a statement. “We’ll have a couple players who have not been with us before and some others who we want to look at a little more as we finalize our 21-player roster. All of the players are being considered for Turkey.”
The United States are in Group A with Colombia, Congo DR, South Korea and hosts France. The US open the tournament against France on Tuesday, May 28.
Roster by Position
GOALKEEPERS (2): Cody Cropper (Southampton FC/England), Kendall McIntosh (Santa Clara Univ.)
DEFENDERS (7): Eric Miller (Creighton Univ.), Juan Pablo Ocegueda (CD Guadalajara/Mexico), Shane O'Neill (Colorado Rapids), Jeffrey Payeras (CSD Municipal/Guatemala), Caleb Stanko (SC Freiburg/Germany), Oscar Sorto (LA Galaxy), Javan Torre (UCLA)
MIDFIELDERS (7):Kellyn Acosta (FC Dallas), Marlon Hairston (Univ. of Louisville), Benji Joya (Santos Laguna/Mexico), Mikey Lopez (Sporting Kansas City), Collin Martin (Wake Forest Univ.), Dillon Serna (Colorado Rapids), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew)
FORWARDS (6): Daniel Cuevas (Santos Laguna/Mexico), Daniel Garcia (Univ. of North Carolina), Alonso Hernandez (CF Monterrey/Mexico), Alfred Koroma (Univ. of Akron), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders Academy.), Victor Pineda (Chicago Fire)
