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U.S. Under-20s reveal January camp roster

PerryKitchen (ISIPhotos.com)

Photo by Tony Quinn/ISIPhotos.com

Juan Agudelo, Omar Salgado, Perry Kitchen and Joe Gyau were among the players called in by U.S. Under-20 head coach Thomas Rongen for the team's training camp in January in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

The Under-20 team will be in camp from Jan. 2nd to Jan. 13th in Fort Lauderdale as Rongen looks to finalize his squad ahead of Under-20 World Cup qualifying.

Agudelo will be with the team until Jan. 6th, after which he will join the U.S. senior national team in Carson, California.

This U-20 camp will feature the debut of Bayern Munich midfielder Fabian Huerzeler, a German youth national team player who is considering making the change to play for the United States (though he has yet to formally apply for a national team affiliation switch).

Here is the full training camp roster:

U.S. Under-20 Training Camp Roster

GOALKEEPERS– Cody Cropper (Ipswich Town; Athens, Ga.), Zac MacMath (Maryland; St. Petersburg, Fla.), Brian Sylvestre (Vancouver Whitecaps FC; Hollywood, Fla.) 

DEFENDERS– Gale Agbossoumonde (GD Estoril Praia; Syracuse, N.Y.), Greg Garza (GD Estoril Praia; Grapevine, Texas), Moises Hernandez (FC Dallas; Dallas, Texas), Sacir Hot (Boston College; Fair Lawn, N.J.), Sebastian Ibeagha (Duke; Missouri City, Texas), Perry Kitchen (Akron; Indianapaolis, Ind.), Zarek Valentin (Akron; Lancaster, Pa.), Korey Veeder (Out of Contract; St. Petersburg, Fla.), Ethan White (D.C. United; Kensington, Md.)

MIDFIELDERS– Joe Gyau (Hoffenheim; Silver Spring, Md.), Fabian Huerzeler (Bayern Munich; Munich, Germany), Sebastian Lletget (West Ham United; San Francisco, Calif.), Alex Molano (Dinamo Zagreb; Grapevine, Texas), Moises Orozco (Tigres; Oxnard, Calif.), Dillon Powers (Notre Dame; Plano, Texas), Kelyn Rowe (UCLA; Newport Beach, Calif.), Conor Shanosky (D.C. United; Sterling, Va.), Alex Zahavi (Maccabi Haifa; Los Angeles, Calif.) 

FORWARDS– Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls; Barnegat, N.J.), Conor Doyle (Derby County; McKinney, Texas), Omar Salgado (unattached; El Paso, Texas), Bobby Wood (1860 Munich; Irvine, Calif.) 

What do you think of the squad? Who are you excited to be called in? Anybody missing that surprises you?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. The US, and most teams actually, can’t keep up with Spain or Barca if you “let them play”.

    Tactics are about more than just saying “we’re playing 4-5-1 today”. Tactics include having Charlie Davies stay up and wide so that Sergio Ramos has to watch him and can’t attack as much. Little things like that.

    I don’t know if Josh D watched the Confederations Cup game where we beat Spain with our “last ditch tackle counter attacking style” but I found it very entertaining to watch.

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  2. There is no reason for Juan to cut himself off like that until he needs to (though it’s not really his choice).

    The kid is just starting out. The managers will make that decision when it needs to be made. I’d rather have him spend a little too much time in the Under-20’s rather becoming a regular a little too early with the senior team. One game does not a career make.

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  3. No absolutely not it means for those of us following hte U-20 team that his spot in the U-20 should be used by another prospect. If he is goign to start being part of the MNT pool then he should also be just thinking of that national team.

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  4. Lol.

    Bob is no tactical genius, but seriously though, the team has shown the ability to play attractive ball against weaker opposition. Could it be that its just hard to play like Barca against tough opponents and especially when you don’t have Barca talent?

    Of course not. A foreign coach would come in and teach us dumb ‘mericans how to play soccer the right way. Just like the Big Green.

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  5. I am so excited for the U-20 World Cup…this looks like the most talented group I’ve seen. I would compare then to the hype around ’07, but many of them are struggling professionally…

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  6. Yeah, I looked into that the other day–it really is impressive that the Dallas area has such a density of high-end youth programs. Now if only it wasn’t so goddamn hot in summer.

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  7. Gatt’s 2nd Division Austrian team has a real shot at promotion, and their winter break only goes to Jan. 7th or 8th or so. And Gatt has been starring for them.

    Okugo and MacInierney both had pretty packed and busy first professional years in many aspects. Philly Union probably pushed to give them a mental break as much as a physical one. I’d say Okugo is probably a lock for the U20 WC roster; MacInierney not so much. There’s a lot of competition at forward.

    I have no news whatsoever on Ruelas, and I think Bowen might not be eligible anymore. Even if he’s under 20 right now, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t turn 20 during qualifying or something. Besides, I think Bowen turned 20 during the MLS season…

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  8. What is more important? Winning a U20 WC or having a solid senior team? I’m certainly not sold on Agudelo being a capable goal scorer for the senior team especially considering the sample size, but when is the last time a forward has scored for the USMNT? Lets see how Agudelo does(and everyone else, too) in the upcoming friendlies before we start talking about the Gold Cup too seriously.

    Also, I’d much rather move Dempsey up top than Landon assuming we play a 4-4-2. Maybe that will free up a spot for Holden, although I’d like to see him play in the middle.

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  9. Notice also no Gatt or Gyau. Having a hard time believing this is the final pool, just some guys he wants to get another chance to evaluate. I’ll tell you one thing, if any of these three are absent from the final roster, I’ll be perplexed.

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  10. i was wondering the same thing. we’ve got unattached players and college kids getting call ups over a current professional player? doesn’t make much sense to me

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  11. “I’d have to agree. Bob plays one style, a typical “American” style of counter attacking with last ditch tackles to save the game”

    Of course Josh D is serious. It’s in all the soccer manuals under “L” for last ditch. This camp is all about training these kids how to make that last ditch tackle.

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  12. I have a feeling that Donovan will be moved to striker. LAG has already indicated that Donovan will play striker for LA. The senior team is deep at midfield also.

    I think Agudelo should be left with the U20s. I believe we are contenders to win the U20 WC

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  13. “I believe that Agudelo, if Bradley is utilizing him, should just dedicate himself to the MNT. ”

    what does that mean? So he should not play for Red Bull?

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  14. On results at this level. They beat us once and we tied them in the second game. They have done really well in South America in winning tournaments down there. Just last week while we destroyed a weak Canadian team they beat Chile, Peru (which beat us back in the tournament we had down there which was pretty pathetic) and the went to the final and lost to the Argies (whom at this level are one of the best in the world).

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  15. Though Hurzeler has yet to formally switch, this is hardly a “look at me German FA, call me up or I’m playing for the US.” Once you go to another team’s camp, you’re as much as dead to the German FA, especially with the amount of talent they possess in the youth ranks. He hasn’t been called up for the U18s, and this surely cements the ending to his time with Germany. He’ll play for the US.

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  16. Robert, I’m up for that. I certainly like the style of play he tries to implement.

    @Laughable, you may be right, but what’s the harm in trying at least for a short window. We already play very unattractive soccer (in my opinion), so it may be worth a look.

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  17. There’s a chance. Right now who are our projected strikers for the Gold Cup?:

    1. Jozy Altidore
    2. Edson Buddle

    then who? I’m sure Bob will bring at least 1, probably 2 more strikers.

    Herculez Gomez didn’t exactly light it up for Pachuca. Charlie Davies still isn’t ready. Brian Ching’s time with the USMNT seems to be over. Conor Casey hasn’t played for the USMNT since the El Salvador friendly in February 2010. Eddie Johnson is only seeing limited minutes with Fulham, and he is still the same player he’s always been. Robbie Findley…well he’s Robbie Findley. He can run real fast and probably won’t play for whatever EPL/Championship side is stupid enough to sign him.

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  18. There is this search engine called Google. Type “Fabian Huerzeler” in there and you will find all kinds of stuff about him.

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  19. Here’s a wild idea, just throwing it out there. What about Wilmer Cabrera? He knows athe national team set up and he plays an attractive attacking style of play everyone loves to watch. Plus he’s had relative success.

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  20. Molano is the son of a local dfw soccer coach, Willy Molano. Grapevine is a upper middle class suburb with access to the excellent coaching and highly competitive north Texas club programs, hence guys from plano, grapevine, Dallas, etc are all part of youth national teams at all levels.

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  21. I believe that Agudelo, if Bradley is utilizing him, should just dedicate himself to the MNT. There is enough talent (Mc, Bowen, Saad, etc) that are not in this camp that could had taken his place and be seeing. Other than that Walsh and Kitchen there is an argument those two should had gone. Will there be any friendlies? Above all its time FOR RONGEN to start molding this team. Honestly Mexico at this moment in time is far stronger than us and its not talent wise but they are playing together and have a core group of players.

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  22. No chance that Agudelo is in the Gold Cup squad. NO CHANCE. One goal in one B appearance that he didn’t create himself does not make him the next best thing. Settle down.

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  23. You could ask the same thin about the Maryland suburbs of DC. Kensington (Ethan White) flows right into Silver Spring (Gyau) — neither town/city has a real border…so you can’t say where one ends and the other begins.

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  24. Well, I liked the idea of Klinsmann, but obviously that didn’t fly. And, before Hiddink was snatched up, I would have suggested him. Same goes for Bielsa. Let me marinate on that one in terms of available international caliber coaches and get back to you.

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  25. Attacking Mid. He’s a typical #10, great vision and skill on the ball. I actually saw him play in a reserve match not too long ago for the hammers, fantastic young player. May just be the #10 we’ve never had.

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