Seven Major League Soccer players are among the 21 players who have been called into the U.S. U-20 national team's final training camp before the 2007 CONCACAF Final Round Qualifying Tournament.
Five MLS clubs are represented on head coach Thomas Rongen's roster, which will be trimmed to 20 before the squad departs for Central America on Jan. 14. The U-20s will face the U.S. U-17 side on Jan. 2, 3, 4 and 6 during the camp.
The Columbus Crew and Los Angeles Galaxy have each contributed a pair of players to the camp roster, as Danny Szetela and Tim Ward have journeyed from Ohio, while Quavas Kirk and Nathan Sturgis made the cross-country trip from California.
Real Salt Lake, the New York Red Bulls and FC Dallas have each sent one player to Florida. Freddy Adu, recently acquired by RSL, is joined by the Bulls' Josmer Altidore and the Hoops' Blake Wagner.
The U-20s are training at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., ahead of the qualifying tournament that is set to take place in Panama from Jan. 17-20. The U.S. will face the host nation, Guatemala and Haiti in the competition, with the top two teams from the round-robin tournament securing spots in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, which will take place in Canada from June 30 to July 22.
The Americans are attempting to qualify for their sixth consecutive U-20 World Cup, formerly known as the FIFA World Youth Championship. The U.S. side fell to Italy in the round-of-16 at the last such competition, which took place in Holland in 2005.
Jonathan Nierman is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
