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Thomas Rongen has selected the 20 players for the United States Under-20 World Cup qualifying campaign that gets underway later this month.
Eight MLS players and 16 professionals in total highlight the roster, which includes the likes of Sebastian Lletget, Joseph Gyau, Conor Doyle and Omar Salgado but does not include Bayern Munich youth product Fabian Huerzeler.
Juan Agudelo is also not on the roster, but that is because he will be with the senior national team for its friendlies against Argentina and Paraguay.
The United States opens CONCACAF qualifying against Suriname on March 29 and Panama on April 2 in Guatemala. If it finishes in the top two in its group, the U.S. Under 20s advance to the quarterfinals, where the four winners clinch berths in this summer's U-20 World Cup in Colombia.
Here is who will be participating at the CONCACAF U-20 championships:
U.S. UNDER-20 WC QUALIFYING ROSTER
GOALKEEPERS – Zac MacMath (Philadelphia Union), Cody Cropper (Ipswich Town).
DEFENDERS – Gale Agbossoumonde (Djugardens IF), Greg Garza (Estoril Praia), Moises Hernandez (FC Dallas), Sacir Hot (New York Red Bulls), Sebastein Ibeagha (Duke University, Houston Dynamo Academy), Perry Kitchen (D.C. United), Zarek Valentin (Chivas USA), Korey Veeder (Columbus Crew).
MIDFIELDERS – Sebastian Lletget (West Ham), Amobi Okugo (Philadelphia Union), Moises Orozco (UANL Tigres), Dillon Powers (University of Notre Dame), Kellyn Rowe (UCLA).
FORWARDS – Eder Arreola (UCLA), Conor Doyle (Derby County), Joe Gyau (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim), Omar Salgado (Vancouver Whitecaps), Bobby Wood (1860 Munich).
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What do you think about the roster? Who do you wish was included? Do you think the USA will have a problem qualifying with this group?
Share your thoughts below.
Ruelas not beign in the roster is a dissapointment, I wonder if Mexico has anything to do with it
b/c the current crop of strikers are quality
he’s been called up before and played well. despite the club situation, Rongen has been keeping an eye on him for some time
im confused by this as well… a U17 starter will not be called into the U20 roster.
for an expansion team in MLS. Doyle has more playing experience with Derby. Wood is highly regarded as 1860’s top youth player and has found PT with the first team. Salgado has done extremely well with the U20’s and Vancouver is incredibly high on him. Gyau is finding PT with Hoffenhiem’s U23’s.
The only question mark is Arreola and he has been a quality player all the way through the US youth ranks. Reulas and Agudelo arent even included in this roster. Jack is a quality striker, nothing against him, but he wont make the WC roster.
Parents told him he has to finish his exams if he wants to sign a professional contract with Bayern
i may be wrong, but i was under the impression he and Zahavi havent completed filing the switch
Ives, what’s the deal with Soony Saad? Why is he never called up to the U-20 team?
why? he’s with the U-17s
Bowen and McInerney have been on the outside looking in for awhile. Nungary hasn’t played with the US U20’s for some time now. No way Rongen throws him back into the mix at Quals. Has anyone heard from Jerome since he went abroad?? when was the last time Rongen even called him up??
These 4 players are simply not as talented as the ones who are taking the spots. And lets not even forget Agudelo isnt even in the mix as he’s with the seniors.
I’m pretty sure that McInerney is good enough, considering he has more professional experience than a lot of the roster.
I think ESPN Deportes and ESPN3
the 4 players from college are quite quality players. Holding us back?? i suspect only Powers will make the WC team. MAYBE Ibeagha as well
mexico can keep eyeing Ruelas. He’s quite comfortable with the US. Either way, we’ll know very shortly where he wants to play. If he opts the US U20’s WC then he’ll need to file a switch
there are a handful of players who cant make the trip for quals. Clubs aren’t forced to release at this point.
You might be jumping the gun with the “not good enough” stuff. Their clubs may want them.
Wood injured himself in his last match for 1860 Munich so not sure how serious it is.
Congratulations to Korey Veeder for making the squad. The kid kept his head up and played hard for the now defunct second division side Crystal Palace Baltimore last year.
That situation was a difiicult one for a guy who was already an established professional but for a kid away from home the first time, playing for a club facing so much adversity. Props to the kid. It was nice having him around for the short time that we did.
Even if the kid never gets a match appearance in the big tournament he has already distinguished himself in my book.
Hopefully he continues to make his mark.
By next Jan. I think we will see Wood, Gyau and Boss all making appearences. Gyau is playing really well right now.
Sounds like you are in luv and are going to have a pretty nice trip.
Cheer extra loud for me since I can’t make the trip, Playah.
Nungary, Bowen, Jerome and McInerney are not good enough..which speaks volumes for how talented this group is.
Gyau has been getting a lot of playing time with the U-23 team. He could appear on the Hoffenheim 1st team by next year and could possibly be a call-up next January.
fwiw Renken is also playing with the U-18’s
I dunno, back in 2007, we had Jozy (NYRB), Gabe Ferrari (Sampdoria), Freddy Adu (RSL), Robbie Rogers (Heerenveen), Michael Bradley (Heerenveen), Dax McCarty (FCD), Nate Sturgis (LA Galaxy), and Danny Szetela (Columbus Crew). (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_FIFA_U-20_World_Cup_squads#.C2.A0United_States)
That seems like more names that I was familiar with at the time (including 2 players with senior caps) than we have in this current squad, but the fact that Doyle & Wood are actually getting games overseas and Kitchen about to become an MLS starter, it’s a pretty good unit.
He means there are a total of 16 pros including 8 mls. 4 others are in college. 20 total
Mobi Fehr?
He means there are a total of 16 pros including 8 mls. 4 others are in college
There was an article in Bild, (a German magazine) about his family putting more importance on his school right now — but with he and his parents saying Fabian would be open to playing in the World Cup itself. But he’d have to make the one-time switch before then.
I guess since he already made a decision to come all the way over here and train with our guys in camnp, it’s a real positive sign. Fingers crossed…
I yearn for the day when all American players who make the U-20 qualifying or championship rosters are playing professionally.
Anyway, this age group looks fairly loaded. Some big names are missing and we still are able to put out a team that has some serious firepower. There could be some turnover before the championships: Bowen and McInerney, for example, could see increased playing time early in the season and get off to good starts, making hard to keep them on the outside. It is a pleasant conundrum to have so many options.
Rongen said that Zahavi was not released by his club.
My fiancee is from Colombia and I’ve been 4 times now – wonderful country and can’t wait to see our boys there this summer!!
It’s an improvement that has been going on for the last 4-5 years. If you take a look at our 22-24 year olds, they are starters on our team now. It’s finally getting the ball rolling in proper training, scouting, and coaching. The youth setups are getting better.
“Eight MLS players and 16 professionals” — hahaha… Strongest but with those non-professional MLSers, they’re holding us back!
“Eight MLS players and 16 professionals”…MLS players get paid too! Or was that just a dig at MLS?!
Based on the fact that we only need to advance out of the group and win 1 knock-out match I’m not exactly supprised that players like Fabian Huerzeler, Alex Zahavi, Alex Molano, Ethan White, Josh Gatt, and Samir Badr are not attending. All are either playing 1st team action for the respective clubs or are nearing promotion from the U class to their clubs reserve sides. However, if by some quark the team doesn’t advance to the WC in Colombia there will be some serious questions asked of the USSF and coaching staff.
Anyone know if their matches will be on TV?
General question: Do you think this current crop of talent is more the result of the continued improvement in the development of US soccer OR is it a “Golden” age of talent that will pop up and then we won’t see guys as good as this regularly for the next cycles?
As long as Fabian Huerzeler is on the U20 World Cup squad i’m happy.. He’d be a great steal from Germany!
no molano, zahavi, Nungaray, Bowen, McInerney or Stefan Jerome. All in all, a good roster though. Zahavi and Gatt and Huerzeler are really the big misses. Zahavi may be leaning towards Israel.
The senior team is so short on decent strikers, the door is wide open for any kid that looks good.
Meaning, Agudelo is likely done with U-20.
And door is still open for more U-20 and U-23 strikers. imho
Seems Gatt wasn’t given permission because Molde expect him to be a sometimes-starter when the season starts tomorrow.
Good question! I was wondering the same thing. I heard that Ruelas was the real deal and Mexico has the eye on him too.
Josh Gatt’s club wouldnt let him go. for that same reason, I’m suprised to see Conor Doyle.
Think OGS has big plans for Gatt at Molde. This is only qualifying and not a FIFA date.
Regarding Agudelo, after a second thought, I think it makes sense. Wood, Gyau, Salgado are not in the picture of the USMNT (yet) and do not get minutes in their teams so… by not selecting Agudelo which will be getting playing time with the NYRB and the USMNT makes more opportunities for the strikers to get more minutes.
Problem qualifying? No. This has to be the strongest u20 side we’ve had.
No clue about Herzeler and Zahavi, but it does seem that Agudelo is firmly in the senior camp. We might see him in London next summer, but he’d be wasting time with the u20s.
Also missing
Adrian Ruelas
Josh Gatt
So, is Cropper any good? I’m surprised not to see Samir Badr on the list.
DeLarge, do you happen to know if Huerzeler will feature for the USMNT or does he want to play for Germany?
Wow. No Huerzeler? I would like to see if this was a snub or if like DeLarge mentioned that he wanted to finish school. Something is weird.
Heard that Huerzeler’s parents wanted the kid to finish school, as it’s very important to them. Can’t argue with that.
Wonder what this means for Zahavi and Agudelo for the tourney if they qualify. Will the former switch allegiance — and will the latter have moved on permanently to the full team?