CHICAGO (April 22, 2005) - U.S. Under-20 head coach Sigi Schmid announced today that Crew midfielder Danny Szetela is part of the 14-player roster that will face the Seattle Sounders of the USL First Division on Monday, April 25 at 7 p.m. PT at Husky Soccer Field on the University of Washington campus.
Of the 14 players on the qualifying roster, six are professionals playing in Major League Soccer. Five MLS teams are represented on the roster as both Chad Barrett and Will John were called in from the Chicago Fire, along with Arturo Alvarez (FC Dallas), Hunter Freeman (Colorado Rapids), Danny Szetela (Columbus Crew) and Tim Ward (MetroStars).
Schmid may add additional MLS players to fill out the roster, depending on the availability of players after their league games this weekend. As of now, Schmid has only 12 field players as two of the 14 on the roster are goalkeepers.
The match will serve as preparation for the U.S. as the U-20s are a little more than a month-and-a-half away from competing in the FIFA World Youth Championship in Holland, which will take place from June 10-July 2. The U.S. qualified for Holland '05 with a first-place finish in Group A of the CONCACAF Under-20 qualifying tournament at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., in January and was drawn into the difficult Group D with Argentina, Germany and Egypt.
"Bringing our players together and playing high-level matches against quality opponents is something that is vital for us as we move towards the World Youth Championship in June," said Schmid. "While we don't have our full team for our match against the Sounders, we have a large majority of the players and will be expecting a competitive match."
All six of the standout college players were recently with the Under-20s during their 12-day tour of Holland, where the team compiled a 2-0-1 record against top club teams. Half of the college players are from UCLA as Patrick Ianni, Marvell Wynne and Benny Feilhaber were all called in, along with forward Brad Evans (UC-Irvine) and goalkeepers Andrew Kartunen (Stanford) and Justin Hughes (UNC).
Rounding out the roster are two players with the same name that have both made numerous U-20 rosters over the past year-and-a-half. Defender Robby Rogers from Fairfax, Va., is the only high school player to make the roster, while midfielder Robbie Rogers from Huntington Beach, Calif., was also called into the U-18 camp next week and will join the younger national team on Tuesday.
Fans can purchase tickets for the Seattle Sounders match by calling 206-622-3415. Due to the seating restrictions at Husky Soccer Field, the Sounders will only be offering a limited number of tickets in a $25 premium area and general admission tickets for $15.
The U.S. opens the World Youth Championship against Argentina on June 11 at 5:30 p.m. local time/ 11:30 a.m. ET, then faces Germany on June 14 (8:30 p.m. local time/ 2:30 p.m. ET) and concludes group play on June 18 (1:30 p.m. local time/ 7:30 a.m. ET) against Egypt. The U.S. will play all three of their first round games at Enschede Stadium in Enschede, Holland. Every U.S. match at the World Youth Championship can be followed live via ussoccer.com's MatchTracker, presented by Philips Electronics.
