US Soccer announced on Wednesday that the US Under-23 national team will convene for a training camp in England in September, taking on the England U-23s on Sept. 3 and Qatar U-23s on Sept. 8 ahead of CONCACAF Olympic qualifying in October.
“We are absolutely excited about this invitation to compete with these teams,” US U-23 head coach Andi Herzog said in a statement released by US Soccer. “We have emphasized the need for this group to be together as much as possible, and to get another chance to train and play against England and Qatar will be a great opportunity to evaluate players as we look to finalize our roster for Olympic qualifying.”
The US U-23s have played in three matches this year, beating Bosnia 5-2 and falling 1-0 at Denmark last month before topping Mexico 3-0 at the StubHub Center last week. A slew of MLS players were in the team that beat Mexico, with Real Salt Lake’s Luis Gil, LA Galaxy’s Jose Villarreal and Colorado Rapids Shane O’Neill and Dillon Serna highlighting the league contingent. Stanford University and USMNT forward Jordan Morris (pictured) also participated in the match, starting and scoring the US's final goal.
Herzog’s side will get together again next month for the renowned Toulon Tournament in France. There, they’ll collide with some of the world’s most notable teams, facing France on May 27, the Netherlands on May 29, Costa Rica on May 31 and Qatar on June 2. The championship and third-place games at the Toulon Tournament are scheduled for June 7.
The 2015 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro games will take place in the United States from Oct. 1-13. Eight teams participate in qualifying, with the top two teams automatically advancing to the Olympics and the third-place side moving into a playoff against Colombia, the 2015 South American Youth Football Championship runner-up. The specific location for the tournament has yet to be announced.
