US Under-20 men's national team head coach Tab Ramos has unveiled his 21-man roster for the upcoming U-20 World Cup in Turkey, and it is a squad with plenty of MLS representation.
Nine players on the US team that Ramos named on Friday morning currently play in MLS, including Real Salt Lake midfielder Luis Gil, LA Galaxy forward Jose Villarreal, Seattle Sounders fullback DeAndre Yedlin, Colorado Rapids defender Shane O'Neill and Sporting Kansas City midfielder Mikey Lopez. The other four MLS-based players on the team are Galaxy defender Oscar Sorto, Columbus Crew midfielder Wil Trapp, Chicago Fire forward Victor Pineda and FC Dallas midfielder Kellyn Acosta.
Other notable names on the roster include Southampton goalkeeper Cody Cropper, Santos Laguna attackers Benji Joya and Daniel Cuevas, and forward Mario Rodriguez of FC Kaiserslautern.
"We're very happy about the group we selected," Ramos said in a statement. "Obviously it's always difficult. Wednesday night we were up till late selecting the final couple players. It's always hard to let a player go who's worked so hard to get here, and we know that we have 35 players who are deserving of going to the World Cup."
The US open Group A vs. Spain on June 21, before taking on France on June 24 and meeting with Ghana in their group-stage finale on June 27.
Here is the full roster:
GOALKEEPERS (3) : 1-Cody Cropper (Southampton FC/England), 12-Kendall McIntosh (Santa Clara Univ.), 21-Zach Steffen (FC DELCO)
DEFENDERS (7) : 13-Eric Miller (Creighton Univ.), 3-Juan Pablo Ocegueda (CD Guadalajara/Mexico), 5-Shane O'Neill (Colorado Rapids), 18-Oscar Sorto (LA Galaxy), 4-Caleb Stanko (SC Freiburg/Germany), 14-Javan Torre (UCLA), 2-DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle Sounders)
MIDFIELDERS (5) : 16-Kellyn Acosta (FC Dallas), 10-Luis Gil (Real Salt Lake), 8-Benji Joya (Santos Laguna/Mexico), 15-Mikey Lopez (Sporting Kansas City), 6-Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew)
FORWARDS (6) : 20-Daniel Cuevas (Santos Laguna/Mexico), 17-Danny Garcia (Univ. of North Carolina), 7-Victor Pineda (Chicago Fire), 19-Alonso Hernandez (Monterrey/Mexico), 9-Mario Rodriguez (1. FC Kaiserslautern/Germany), 11-Jose Villarreal (LA Galaxy)
