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U.S. Olympic hopefuls to play in Toulon Invitational

The U.S. Under-23 men’s national team will compete in the Toulon International Tournament in France from May 20 to May 29 and the action will be aired live on Fox Soccer Channel. FSC will broadcast the entire tournament, which includes five teams that have qualified for this summer’s Olympic games.

If you were hoping to see the best of the best U.S. Olympic team candidates, don’t hold your breath. This U.S. team is expected to consist of players on the fringes of the Olympic selection process and the tournament will be used to help identify which players might fill out the final spots on the roster. U.S. Under-23 national team coach Peter Nowak will announce the 20-man roster for this tournament later this week on ussoccer.com.

That doesn’t mean the tournament’s other teams won’t bring their best players. Japan, France, Chile and the Netherlands (which is in the U.S. team’s Olympic Group) make up Group A, while the United States, Turkey, Ivory Coast and Italy (which could feature Giuseppe Rossi) make up Group B.

The United States faces Turkey on May 21 (9:30am ET), Ivory Coast on May 23 (12:30pm) and Italy on May 25 (noon).

So what Under-23 prospects would you like to see Peter Nowak take a look at in this camp? Danny Szetela? Gabriel Ferrari? Preston Zimmerman? Johann Smith? Neven Subotic?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. If I were picking the olympic team, I would probably choose this:

    GK-Overage Player(Howard or Guzan), Seitz

    DF-Overage Player(Bocanegra), Spector, Wynne, Sturgis, Freeman, Orozco

    MF-Bradley, Adu, Edu, Kljestan, Holden, Felhaber

    ST-Overage Player (Donovan, Johnson, or McBride), Altidore, Charlie Davies, Ferrari

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  2. Plus not only that, Crawley Town FC plays in Conference National! and to think people were knockin jemal johnson for crying out loud…

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  3. I’m getting some ambiguous info on Jon-Paul Pittman. From the looks of it, he’s on the books at Crawley Town, not Forest, which means he will likely not be playing in the Championship next year. His goal-scoring record is decent, but he also seems to have a bit of a temper, picking up 6 yellows and a red last season as a striker. There’s also some doubt about his national allegiance, as he as listed under Senegalese nationality, despite being born in The States. Perhaps it is not his intent to play for the US, should the opportunity arise. I agree we should look into the guy, but there seem to be a lot of question marks at the moment.

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  4. all good selections from everyone except maybe adu and feilhaber. In case nobody has noticed, this tourney is from may 20-may 29. Guess whats happening in between that time? Oh yeah we have to play this little country called ENGLAND. lol. I’d rather see adu and feilhaber on that roster, as we are going to need all the firepower we have to try and win any of the 3 friendlies that we have set up.

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  5. Bits:: Great catch on Pittman!!!! Belongs to Nottingham Forest!!! Going to the Championship!!! Striker!!!!! Hey I believe that we need some of those!!!!

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  6. a core of something like…

    –Zimmerman–Ferrari—-

    ———-Adu———–

    Szetela————-Johan

    —Bradley–Feilhaber—

    Arguez————Spector

    ———Subotic———

    ———-Cervi———-

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  7. I still have my doubts on whether the Olympics will actually take place in their entirety. I think between terrorist attacks, protests and the foot and mouth epidemic, i would bet that they get terminated before completion.

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  8. it’s not like Adu has been that busy as of late for Benfica (not even making the bench), i hope he gets the call for the tourney and makes Rossi his bitch

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  9. Looking forward to this. It’ll be nice to give some players who haven’t competed international for a while a chance to play here. Some good suggestions were already commented on. I can’t wait to see Rossi and hopefully Szletea will be playing during that match.

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  10. The yanks abroad will be out of season by then so good time to bring them in and get them game fit-especially the ones sitting on the various benches-Adu, Szetela, Sizzo. Maybe a good time for Benny to redeem himself as well.

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  11. I hope he takes Chad Barrett so he doesn’t have to be here for the Fire. That is the best thing that will happen to the Fire is that he makes the olympic team so hes not here this summer. Please take him away Nowak!

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  12. My guess is it will probably be virtually 100% Euros…but how sweet is it that we get a shot at Italy again…

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  13. Any kid that is a regular starter on their MLS team (Alvarez, Rogers, etc) isn’t going to be called up for the Toulon International Tournament by Nowak. Sorry folks.

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  14. we need to use a roster spot on a hack that will take down rossi… for ever…. can you imagine it? if he never plays, we’ll be in a paradise: no rossi questions…

    jk

    bring the players that we cut before the tournament (Alvarez, Holden), see if they play better than our supposed best.

    did i mention, ellipsis…

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  15. i think the Olympics only allow a total of 18 players on the final roster? correct me if im wrong, but that leaves little room to go wrong:

    DF:Franklin, Freeman, Hill, Ianni, Myers, Orozco, Purdy, Randolph, Sturgis, Valentin, Wallace, Wynne

    MD:Dalby, Gaven, Holden, Nguyen, Feilhaber, Alvarez, McCarty

    FW:Barrett, Cristman, Findley, Smith, Zimmerman, Davies, Rogers

    with the core group being Adu, Altidore, Bradley, Edu, and Spector…then throw in the 3 overage guys, that leaves only 10 spots left…

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  16. I’d really like to see Johann Smith. I’ve never seen him in action but i heard he’s a great prospect. He missed time at the U20 WC with an injury and I for one would really like to see how this guy plays.

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  17. It’s probably going to be a lot easier to get the guys from abroad than the MLS guys, since pulling out the MLS guys in mid-season isn’t going to make many coaches happy. I know they can make the case that the kids only really get one shot at the Olympics, but pulling the kids out of the league twice (once for the tourney and once for the Olympics) won’t make many coaches happy.

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  18. From MLS: Myers, Igwe, Alvarez, Robbie Rogers

    From Abroad: Ferrari, Szetela, Nguyen, Ochoa, Purdy, Dalby, Subotic, Smith, Zimmerman.

    I think defensively we are ok with what we have, but Subotic, Igwe, Myers could add some depth. i’d like to see Nowak bring in some new attacking players such as Nguyen, Rogers, Smith, and Alvarez. I think there are more places up for grabs in the offensive third.

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  19. All names mentioned this far sound good… I’d consider some guys like Brian Arguez, Arturo Alvarez, Mike Randolph, Michael Harrington (particularly at left back), Corey Ashe, and Chance Myers

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  20. Rossi! 😉

    Actually, I’d like to see Robbie Rogers get some int’l time, but I’d rather he keep scoring goals for the Crew until the Olympics roll around. If they already have to lose him for a bit for the Olympics, I’d rather they didn’t lose him now. It would be nice for Szetela to get some game time, since he’s been on the bench for a while. Feilhaber, too.

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  21. Nevin Subotic, Gabe Ferrari, Johan Smith, Sal Zizzo, Benny Feihaber, Preston Zimmerman, We desperately need to find world class strikers. So if anybody knows of any USA Linked players that can actually play striker please find them for Mr. Bradley!!!!

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  22. I think Jemal Johnson deserves a call-up. He’s been a pro since 2004, and has played great for MK Dons this season. People will argue that League Two is not a tough enough league for him to earn a shot, but I’ll argue that Nowak has called Greg Dalby, Sal Zizzo and Preston Zimmerman into camp, all three of whom have made a grand total of zero first-team appearences for their clubs. Also given a chance was Johann Smith, who has failed to make an impact anywhere he’s played except for last season’s loan spell at Carlisle, and has had two unsuccessfull loans this season alone (Darlington and Stockport County). Jemal has definitely earned a shot.

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  23. Guys, other than the obvious, Bradley, Adu, Edu, Sasha, Spector, and maybe even Orosco. Who esle do you consider a lock to make the team?

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