Photo by TURKPIX/ISIphotos.com
Some of the U.S. Men’s National Team’s brightest prospects will be on full display in Texas in April.
It was announced on Wednesday that the U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team will participate in the Dr Pepper Dallas Cup by playing in the 2014 Godon Jago Super Group. The appearance will mark the U.S.’s fifth in the Gorden Jago Super Group and first since 2010.
“We think that the Dallas Cup offers tremendous competitive value for us domestically,” U.S. U-20 coach Tab Ramos said in a statement. “The tournament brings in elite international clubs to the U.S., so we are excited to see our players give their best effort out there as we look toward making the final squad leading into the U-20 World Cup qualifying in early 2015.”
With the U-20 World Cup a year away, all current players in the U.S. U-20 pool qualify for the U-19 age bracket at Dallas Cup XXXV. The competition will run from April 13-20.
Notable U.S. Men’s National Team players to have partaken in previous editions of the Texas tournament include Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley and DaMarcus Beasley.
—–
What do you think of the U.S. U-20 side partaking in the Dallas Cup? Wish this would happen more often? Prefer to see the Americans play in friendlies against teams from around the world?
Share your thoughts below.
“Our goal is to go into the Dallas Cup and finish 22nd out of 24 teams then have everyone who has no clue (Sunil Gulati) say that we played great soccer, and that it is great to have me as the coach” TAB RAMOS
it will be nice when the US players are representing the top clubs coming in, and not playing against them. This is a great opportunity though, as others have expressed.
What the hell is our national team doing in a tournament I only keep up with for the Dallas Texans and FC Dalas’ youth teams. To be fair, I know other national teams youth programs have played here, but I don’t get why we would enter this tournament. Is manchester or Barcelonas youth teams competing this year?
The year I was there West Ham and others sent Super Group youth teams and Monterrey was in our division. These days Big Clubs like ManU play super group.
The one funky aspect to me has generally been the amount of Dallas teams allowed to participate. That usually squeezes out better teams from Texas and elsewhere. I think it was more justifiable — though still a manifestation of Dallas soccer snobbery — when the tournament was lower key.
Well the Dallas Texans, Solar Chelsea and FCD’s youth teams are all legit, that I know.
Awesome will have to see a game or two!
this is also the tournament where Arsenal finally made the decision to bring Gedion Zelalem over, right?
Yes – It’s the premier youth tournament in the US, and many US players beyond Donovan, Bradley and Beasley have played at it.
makes sense.
In fairness, I also played in it. Let’s not oversell. But it is exceptional.
Cooper was spotted by ManU there. One of its key benefits is international exposure, you play foreign teams and in between their own games the Big Club youth coaches (as well as domestic college coaches) are scouting.
All the unmatched players with our u-17 team could do with the exposure.
Did you see GZ debut for the Gooners, he looked steady and sure of himself. Hope he declares US and not Germ. Class player.
oh yes, i saw it. and all the articles that flooded in afterwards. i hope so too.
next Arsenal player is Ukasha Wallace. but there is no question with him, he played for the U-15s and his twitter states, “American born.” we’ll see how he develops though.
If Gedion Zelalem is the nxt Fabregas then Wallace is the nxt Fellaini? Albeit, he hasn’t shown anything past the u-15s side.
lol i guess, i know he’s a CB/CDM but that’s about it. he has plenty of work to do.
He’s been quoted as saying he styles his game as a yaya toure and Fellaini type
And if you check his twitter recently (like I just did, never heard of the kid) he says “Got called up to play for England next month”. So don’t assume he’s chanting U!S!A! U!S!A!
i dont have twitter, so im not 100% on how it works, but didn’t he just re-tweet Chris Willock, an English/Arsenal player, who got called in. i dont think Wallace did.
I hope the kid does well, but frankly, I took nothing away from that game. He was barely involved at all.
How do you enter a U20 team in a U19 tourney? I guess in theory you don’t bring the oldest players, but one of its quirks has always been that it skips from U17 to U19/Super Group and then that’s it.
But aren’t these the U20s for next cycle and not this? So they would be ~18 and not 20 years old.
The same reason the U.S. U-17s were just in a U-16 tourney. The players all meet the age requirement of the tournament, and are working toward the next U-17 and U-20 WCs (2015).