Top Stories

Porter names roster for U-23 camp

NCAATQ(R)121020103814

Caleb Porter has named a 28-man roster for his first camp in charge of the U.S. U-23 men's national team, and there's talent aplenty.

Freddy Adu, Teal Bunbury, Mikkel Diskerud and Bill Hamid are just some of the more well-known names in the eight-day camp that will be held in Lakewood Ranch, Fla. The camp will begin on Dec. 15 and run through Dec. 23 at the Premire Sports Campus, which just finished hosting the Nike International Friendlies.

Here is the full roster:

Goalkeepers: David Bingham (San Jose Earthquakes), Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Zac MacMath (Philadelphia Union)

Defenders: Gale Agbossoumonde (Eintracht Frankfurt), Royal-Dominique Fennell (Stuttgarter Kickers), Sebastien Ibeagha (Duke), Kofi Sarkodie (Houston Dynamo), Zarek Valentin (Montreal Impact), Jorge Villafana (Chivas USA), Andrew Wenger (Duke), Sheanon Williams (Philadelphia Union) 

Midfielders: Freddy Adu (Philadelphia Union), Bryan Arguez (Montreal Impact), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Danny Cruz (Houston Dynamo), Mikkel Diskerud (Stabaek), Dilly Duka (Columbus Crew), Jared Jeffrey (Mainz), Sebastian Lletget (West Ham United), Amobi Okugo (Philadelphia Union), Michael Stephes (LA Galaxy)

Forwards: Will Bruin (Houston Dynamo), Teal Bunbury (Sporting KC), Jann George (Nurnberg), Joe Gyau (Hoffenheim), Jack McInerney (Philadelphia Union), Andrew Wooten (Kaiserslautern)

The camp will reunite Porter with former Akron Zips Zarek Valentin, Kofi Sarkodie and Bunbury. It will also mark the first time that Porter oversees an U-23 training camp, as he missed the initial one in Germany in November due to his Akron obligations.

Of the 28 players summoned, six ply their trade in Germany, 17 play in MLS and two are college-based. The remaining three play in Mexico, England and Norway.

Some of the notable omissions from this camp include Juan Agudelo and Brek Shea, though their absences might be explained due to their respective training stints with Liverpool and Arsenal.

Perry Kitchen, who played for Porter at Akron, was also excluded from the roster as he recovers from a mild case of turf toe.

—–

What do you think of the roster? Surprised by anyone's inclusion/omission?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I think it is likely that few U-20 players other than perhaps Aguedelo will actually play for this team in the Plympics. There is just such a growth in players’ abilities between 19 and 22 that only a real prodigy will stand a chance, especially since for the Olympics 3 overage players can be used.

    Of the recent U-20 team, I think the players who will be U-20 next year and who got significant attention are Salgado, Aguedelo, Gyau, MacInerney, Kitchen and Lletget. Perhaps a few of them will make the final roster, and fewer yet will actually take the field in the Olympics.

    Reply
  2. He has a game on December 17. Kaiseslautern played their game for that week earlier in the year, Wooten available. The Regionaliga South raps up play for the year the week before, Jann George available.

    Reply
  3. You get three overage players in the Olympics. And you don’t pick them until you qualify and have to. We are a long way from that point.

    Reply
  4. This is the international level we’re talking about.
    Stevens? Not even close! I have great respect for Caleb, so we’ll see if Stephens is able to adapt to a tactically rich game (not likely).

    Reply
  5. Seems like you’re exaggerating based on rumors or random comments. Not sure how you’ve seen a bunch of games he’s played w/ reserves and how you know the coaches’ and teams’ opinions of him. I haven’t seen anything like that printed, but if you have links to those articles, please share. I do know that he’s only just turned 20 and that he’s big, fast and athletic and that Klinsi needs fast CBs in his system, so I imagine he’ll continue to get looks. In general, I don’t think that writing off 19 and 20 year-olds is a good development model. These are kids. People have to chill out a little.

    Reply
  6. Take the widespread hammy issues in the NFL as an indicator of how long these can take to recover correctly (Miles Austin and Peyton Hillis are on my fantasy team)

    Reply
  7. Wow. Mind boggling number of players. Porter and US Soccer want to win so of course it makes sense to put out the best players even if they are also senior team regulars. Could be exciting.

    Reply
  8. I’m not surprised about Stephens. Having seen a LOT of him last year and less so this year what you get with the kid is a steady and very consistant presence. He doens’t make big mistakes at bad times which isn’t to say that he never made mistakes. Its just that his mistakes were NOT costly to the galAXy at that time. I also know he is VERY strong on the ball with a solid first touch. Its hard to get the ball off his feet… Weaknesses from my point of view…

    1. foot speed is suspect for that level

    2. weight of the pass is a litle light when going for longer passes. Pin point up to 20 yards…

    3. I’m not convinced he is strong enough physically for the international level.

    I hope that those things play out as he develops at the camp and he proves me wrong.

    Reply
  9. 28 players and Chandler, Williams, Shea, Agudelo, Jozy, Boyd, Wallace, and Gatt not able to attend due to other commitments.
    In addition, the following were in the camp in Germany last fall and might be on the final list, but unavailable for Dec. : Anthony Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Sean Cunningham (Molde), Royal-Dominique Fennell((Stuttgarter Kickers), Jared Jeffrey (Mainz), Tyrone McCargo (Nürnberg), Charles Renken (Hoffenheim), Caleb Stanko (Freiburg). Conor Doyle (Derby County), Jerome Kiesewetter (Hertha Berlin), Tony Taylor (Atlético Clube de Portugal), Bobby Wood (1860 Munich)
    That’s 47 players (of course, I probably missed a keeper or an injured player from MLS). If a player is not in this group, it is unlikely that Porter knows him well enough to call him in later on when things begin to get more serious unless he sees a glaring weakness in the team that needs filling.

    Porter clearly has some serious sorting out to do in order to make the best team possible.

    Reply
  10. Why does Boss keep getting called up? He has the worst soccer brain I’ve seen from the US prospect.

    Terrible at 2009 U-20’s. Terrible in Porutgal. Was basically the laughing stock of his club in Sweden. He’s not going to magically become good (or even average) overnight.

    Reply
  11. Because he sucks. Everyone keeps forgetting that 2009 U-20 World Cup backline of Opara, Agboussemonde, Sheanon Williams, and Flores.

    THE absolute worst U-20 team the U.S. has put out in the past 25 years.

    Reply
  12. numbers does not always tell you what happens in a game(s). I suggest watching him play. Ive seen him with Houston and IU, he places himself in good positions to receive goal scoring chances. But since you like numbers…

    Will Bruin played in 25 games and scored 5 goals (including playoffs). He tallied 1693 minutes through the season, ~67 min/game. That’s 1 goal every 338 minutes OR 1 goal 3.75 games.

    For a rookie that’s not bad. For an MLS striker that’s not bad. In comparison:

    Sebastien Le Toux played in 34 games and scored 11 goals (including playoff). He tallied 3060 minutes through the season, ~90 minutes a game. That’s 1 goal every 278 minutes or roughly 1 goal every 3 games.

    If Will Bruin amounts to Sebastien Le Toux i would be stoked if he were on my team. Will Bruin will continue to score goals in MLS and YES he has a nose for the goal

    Reply
  13. I was too but Wenger deserves to be there. He is absolutely disgusting. A friend of mine played on a semi pro league team with him and he show up at half time and they were losing 5-0 and he scored 5 goals in the 2nd half playing from center back

    Reply
  14. I disagree guys I do not believe that Jozy will be selected. He is a senior team player who starts regularly for his club so ontop of that I don’t expect him to be released for qualifying either. Same goes for many available U23 so we need to evaluate as much talent as possible to plug in the gaps if a particular player is injured or simply unavailable for selection

    Reply
  15. Chandler, Williams, Shea, Agudelo, Jozy, Boyd and Gatt will likely fill up this roster when it’s time for the Olympics. This could be a very exciting group of players.

    I have never heard of Wooten or George, but that’s cool.

    I was surprised Arguez was included and surprised Morales was not. Maybe it’s a sign Morales is getting that much closer to cracking the first team?

    Reply
  16. Greetings. I’m one of those soccer fans who’s only just over the past couple of years really gotten into the game, and have gotten to the point of watching the game non-stop, whether it’s on TV, at the local college, or whatever. Because I’m probably a newcomer to the sport compared to many of you, my question will probably reveal my naievete on the subject, but why no Charles Renken here? I know he’s young (he turns 18 in 11 days), but when we watch the Olympics I guarantee that we’ll see some 17-19 y/o phenoms from other countries, and we’ll wonder where/who ours are. I also know he’s suffered some injuries, but recent reports say he doesn’t seem to be hampered by them at all. Given how advanced he’s said to be in terms of his technical skill — and you know he’s more mature than his similarly-aged counterparts, given what he’s been through — I figured he’d at least get invited to the camp and given a look. Is it just youth + convalescence that would keep him from consideration? I’ve never been a proponent of the ideology that, “this kid’s young, and he’ll be eligible for the next Olympics.” Something might happen to keep him out of that one, too, and it doesn’t make sense to keep a player out of one Olympics just b/c he can play in another.

    Anyway, just wondering. I admit that I’m probably just anxious for him to succeed, given his journey, and obviously I’m greedy because I want him in a USA/USMNT jersey as soon as possible, heh. Thanks in advance for any replies, and to IG for a phenomenal site. Cheers…

    ACW3

    Reply

Leave a Comment