Photo by ISIphotos.com
If you've ever caught yourself wondering which players might be representing the U.S. men's national team 10 years from now, you might want to take a look at the newest class of the U.S. Under-17 Residency Program.
U.S. Under-17 national team standouts Jack McInerney (pictured above), Luis Gil, Stefan Jerome and Earl Edwards lead a group of 40 players chosen for the prestigious program that has produced current U.S. national team stars Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley and Oguchi Onyewu to name a few.
Here is the group, which includes six players from MLS player academies:
Fall 2009 U.S. Under-17 national team residency class
GOALKEEPERS (4): Keith Cardona (New Red Bulls Academy; Glen Rock, N.J.), Earl Edwards (Nomads SC; San Diego, Calif.), Fernando Piña (Houston Dynamo Academy; Houston, Texas), Spencer Richey (Crossfire Premier; Seattle, Wash.)
DEFENDERS (14): Michael Ambrose (Texas Fire; El Paso, Texas), Andrew Chang (Sockers FC; Highland Park, Ill.), Jerome Cristobal (Derby County Wolves; Sterling Heights, Mich.), Zachary Herold (West Pines United FC, Port St. Lucie, Fla.), Perry Kitchen (Chicago Magic; Indianapolis, Ind.), Jordan McCrary (Concorde Fire; Marietta, Ga.), Boyd Okwuonu (Celtic Green; Edmond, Okla.), Emilio Orozco (Rampage FC; Oxnard, Calif.), Marc Pelosi (De Anza Force; Sunnyvale, Calif.), Tyler Polak (CSA Legacy; Lincoln, Neb.), Nathan Smith (Cal Odyssey; Clovis, Calif.), Andrew Souders (Columbus Crew Academy; Amherst, Ohio), Jared Watts (North Meck SC; Statesville, N.C.), Eriq Zavaleta (FC Pride; Westfield, Ind.)
MIDFIELDERS (12): Atsou Ayah (Fusion FC Tampa; Tampa, Fla.), Sean Davis (Match Fit Chelsea; Holmdel, N.J.), Bryan Duran (Latino Americana; Ducanville, Texas), Irvin Gijon (Players Club; Las Vegas, Nev.), Luis Gil (Pateadores; Garden Grove, Calif.), Eric Gonzalez (LA Galaxy; Corona, Calif.), Alejandro Guido (Aztecs Premier; Chula Vista, Calif.), Carlos Martinez (Wilmington Jr.; San Pedro, Calif), Oscar Ortega (Albion SC; San Ysidro, Calif.), Nick Palodichuk (Washington Premier FC; Battleground, Wash.), Alex Shinsky (Super Nova FC; York, Pa.), Sebastian Velasquez (Arsenal FC; Los Angeles, Calif.)
FORWARDS (10): John Agudelo (New York Red Bulls Academy; Barnegat, N.J.), Victor Chavez (Real So Cal; Fontana, Calif), Andrew Craven (First Coast Kickers; St. Simons Island, Ga.), Kellen Gulley (MS Chicago Fire Juniors; Clinton, Miss.), Stefan Jerome (West Pines United FC; Davie, Fla.), Alfred Koroma (Solar Red; Arlington, Texas), Jack McInerney (Cobb SC; Alpharetta, Ga.), Andrew Oliver (Westside United; Indianapolis, Ind.), Mario Rodriguez (Central Aztecs; North Hollywood, Calif.), Dominick Sarle (BW Gottschee NYC; Huntington, N.Y.)
The class' best players will be representing the United States in the Under-17 World Cup in late October. If you're wondering where Charles Renken and Joseph Gyau are, both joined the 1899 Hoffenheim youth academy. As for Luis Gil, he is still with the U.S. Under-17 Residency Program, but will join the Arsenal FC youth academy after the Under-17 World Cup.
What do you think of this class? Know about any of the players? Happy to see some MLS academy products making the grade?
Share your thoughts below.
I remember seeing fernando pina play with my youngest brother! he played club in Houston,texas with TEXAS PREMIER and houston dynamo academy. I believe he played an age or two up. used to be the smallest keeper now at 15 i think he is close to 6 feet
This is probably the most talented bunch of U-17’s?
I can’t wait to see Luis Gil, Joseph Gyau, Charles Renken, Earl Edwards, and Stephan Jerome. I really hope Jack McInerney has a great tournament. He scored some sick sick SICK goals in Tijuana (must be the water).
no, this orozco is from oxnard, michael is from anaheim. Not related.
Glad to see more latin players called in
no love for the Rocky Mountain states…
I can’t wait to see the U-17 WC in October! I can’t believe Jerome is still U-17. That kid has ridiculous skills. If he holds to promise (and I know that is asking a lot of a US prospect at striker) he really could make Altidore look like a plate of Alpo sitting next to a dish of caviar. He really is an amazing kid to watch.
Emilio Orozco? Michael Orozco’s brother?
Oh, nevermind. Forget my last post.
Ives, you need to check your facts. Luis Gil is joining Arsenal FC for good after the U-17 World Cup in October.
(SBI-I guess you spend as much time reading posts as you do making up fake aliases. I WROTE THAT genius.)
On further thought it would be really cool if they all had my last name. Then I could easily get a jersey with my last name on it 🙂
Just a slight clarification, Ives. The best of the ’92s & ’93s (24 players) will try to make the final roster for the ’09 U17 WC in Oct. The remaining 16 players are ’94s, and are the first group of players for the next cycle, which will cuminate in the ’11 U17 WC.
Don’t think much until I see them play in October. Good to see some geographic diversity with different areas of the US producing talent. Don’t really care if all of their last names were Smith or Gonzalez. If MLS teams can retain the players in their systems and/or sell them to other clubs I will be impressed.
Search for Jack McInerney on YouTube. His highlight video from the recent U-17 qualifiers is awesome. He looks like he could be the next big thing.
brett,
They are both listed in Indianapolis but I’m almost certain they are both from Carmel. Close enough though.
I count 14 out of the 40 as latino players, including 8 out of 12 midfielders.
This is a good sign of a strategy to keep our best, (not that latin players are our best as a rule, but they tend to have more options than non-latin players due the more recent immigration patterns).
If they can control the ball in midfield so much the better!
This is an exciting group to be in as a US player, since the standouts from this group would represent us as host if we get 2018 or 2022.
I thought Luis Gil was going to be with the Arsenal youth academy?
HUC- if you go to soccernet.com they have a “Where are they now?” article on the past 3-4 U17 WC teams. Seems like more of these guys will be featured in those kind of articles than on sites like this in a few years. That’s half the reason we need a broader net cast.
Steve – thanks for the note steve, there ARE in fact 3 hoosiers, not the two i mentioned above 😀
So which on of these cats is the next Danny Szetela or even Memo Gonzalez?
Three Hoosiers on the team! Good stuff, now if we could only get a US Match at Lucas Oil Stadium!
Does the mean Renken and Gyau will not be on the U-17 World Cup Squad in October?
Three native Hoosiers. Sign of the growth or death of the game in America!
Lets go Kellen Gulley!
Get some goalazzzosss!
Nice to see Tampa get some love, there’s alot of talent along the Gulf Coast. Congrats to those kids.
All other things being equal, I wonder if we’re more likely to pick a kid who could possibly play for another country. Hope we’re not losing site of some good 2nd (or greater) generation american kids.
it’s good to see such a diverse group geographically, seems like they’re developing stud players all over the country now.
Happy to see a few people from the RBNY players academy as well as some of my fellow Jersey boys
I played against Andy Craven from St. Simons, GA and watched him a couple other times. He’s a good player but he didn’t really dominate on the field from what I saw. I think he normaly played an age group up though so maybe he’s a lot better against his peers.
First!!! Wow lost of latinos… looking good!
nice to see two Indy reps.