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Gil, Bijev among players called in for U.S. U-20 camp and South American friendlies

Luis Gil (Getty)

Real Salt Lake midfielder Luis Gil and Fortuna Dusseldorf forward Villyan Bijev were among the 20 players named for the upcoming U.S. Under-20 national team training camp in Houston by head coach Tab Ramos.

The roster, released on Saturday, includes FC Dallas forward Jonathan Top and University of North Carolina tandem Boyd Okwuonu and Jordan McCrary. The team will train this week in Houston before traveling to South America for friendlies against Uruguay and Chile.

Here is the full squad, which will begin camp in Houston on Wednesday:

GOALKEEPERS (2): Cody Cropper (Unattached; Athens, Ga.), Tomas Gomez (Georgetown; Webster Groves, Mo.)

DEFENDERS (6): AJ Cochran (Wisconsin; St. Louis, Mo.), Christian Dean (California Berkeley; East Palo Alto, Calif.), Jordan McCrary (North Carolina; Marietta, Ga.), Eric Miller (Creighton; Woodbury, Minn.), Juan Pablo Ocegueda (UANL Tigres; Riverside, Calif.), Boyd Okwuonu (North Carolina; Edmond, Okla.) 

MIDFIELDERS (6): Luis Gil (Real Salt Lake; Garden Grove, Calif.), Benji Joya (Santos Laguna; San Jose, Calif.), Mikey Lopez (North Carolina; Mission, Texas), William Packwood (Birmingham City; Concord, Mass.), Caleb Stanko (SC Freiburg; Holly, Mich.), Wil Trapp (Akron; Gahanna, Ohio) 

FORWARDS (6): Villyan Bijev (Fortuna Düsseldorf; Fresno, Calif.), Daniel Cuevas (Santos Laguna; Sacramento, Calif.), Daniel Garcia (FC Dallas Academy; Dallas, Texas), Victor Pineda (Chicago Fire; Bolingbrook, Ill.), James Rogers (New Mexico; Salt Lake City, Utah), Jonathan Top (FC Dallas; Fort Worth, Texas)

What do you think of the squad? Who are you excited to see included? Which players didn't get the call that you hoped would be on the team?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I think it was Brian Sciaratta (sp?) who tweeted that he talked to them and found that their clubs did not release them for the u20 camp.

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  2. Robert- Agree partly in what you say,Its not a matter of having to many college players being in the team. We need to pick the best and only the best along with the best of the available professionals.Then we need very good coaches hate to say it ,But not US COACHES, as they only teach to US soccer standards.We need the best European coaches available to teach European Football skills and the speed of their game and the toughness in their players.Then our coaches can also see the standards they need to learn to coach our guy’s to get to the top

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  3. Cody Cropper is still with Ipswich F.C until the end of June. He has had a lot of interest from other clubs. But until he has played for the USA he will then start talking to each club for the best terms on offer for CODY Cropper.

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  4. A little surprised JOhn Brooks isn’t on the roster considering that Ramos has specifically said he is eager top get him in camp.

    We will know exactly who Ramos rates later this summer when he selects his squad for the Milk Cup. I wouldn’t be surprised not to see much of Salgado considering he is very much a first team player for Vancouver now. But with that being said I would think Vancouver might release him for the Milk Cup.

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  5. We JUST got a fully professional U-23 team (and look how that turned out, although that was the fault of the best college coach in the country not knowing how to rotate players), give the U-20s another 4-5 years now that MLS teams are setting up academies and signing homegrown players.

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  6. not sure if a third division is better than a 4th division simply because the fourth division is where the “B” teams for BL1 play/train. B teams normally don’t get promoted up the chain because sooner or later you could have a “B” team promoted to the BL1 which would never happen because of their corresponding “A” team.

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  7. Way to many college players and not true professionals. We won’t be on par with the top countries until these list are 100% filled with full time pros.

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  8. Actually Boyd and Wooten played in the Regionalliga or 4th division, Stuttgart is one of only a handful of clubs with U23s in the 3rd division. So it bodes very well for Jerome either way.

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  9. Does this mean that Gil will not be included in the RSL roster for Tuesday night’s USOC match against Minnesota FC?

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  10. Crazy, I was just about to ask the exact same thing and then I saw your comment. Also Pelosi, although maybe he’s not recovered from injury yet.
    Kiesewetter just signed a four year deal with Stuttgart and their U-23s play in the third division, so above where Boyd and Wooten spent almost all of this past year. Very exciting to have a 19 year old at that level, with a team willing to sign him to such a contract.

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