Photo by ISIPhotos.com
By IVES GALARCEP
U.S. Under-20 Men’s National team coach Tab Ramos announced a 22-player roster for the upcoming Toulon Tournament in France, the final warm-up for the U-20s before they compete in this summer’s Under-20 World Cup.
Dani Cuevas, Benji Joya and Cody Cropper lead the group of regular starters to be included in the squad, while Monterrey forward Alonso Hernandez is one of the new faces called up for the Toulon Tournament, which takes place from May 28th to June 8th.
Several regulars have been left out of the squad due to club commitments, including midfielders Jose Villarreal and Luis Gil. Much like Villarreal and Gil, DeAndre Yedlin is scheduled to play two MLS matches during the duration of the Toulon Tournament and was therefore not included in the squad.
One player not on the roster is German-American defender John Anthony Brooks, who has yet to publicly make a decision on whether he would play for the U.S. Under-20 National Team. If he were to play for the U.S. he would project as a starting centerback for the team.
One player on the Toulon Tournament roster who is seeing regular playing time in MLS is Shane O’Neill, who the Rapids released for the tournament. He is due to miss one match less than the other regulars missing the tournament.
Here is the full roster:
U.S. UNDER-20 ROSTER for TOULON TOURNAMENT
GOALKEEPERS (2):Â Cody Cropper (Southampton FC; Maple Grove, Minn.), Kendall McIntosh (Santa Clara; Santa Rosa, Calif.)
DEFENDERS (7): Eric Miller (Creighton; Woodbury, Minn.), Juan Pablo Ocegueda (C.D. Guadalajara; Riverside, Calif.), Shane O’Neill (Colorado Rapids; Boulder, Colo.), Jeffrey Payeras (C.S.D. Municipal; Hawthorne, Calif.), Caleb Stanko (SC Freiburg; Holly, Mich.), Oscar Sorto (LA Galaxy; Los Angeles, Calif.), Javan Torre (UCLA; Santa Monica, Calif.)
MIDFIELDERS (7):Â Kellyn Acosta (FC Dallas; Plano, Texas), Marlon Hairston (Louisville; Jackson, Miss.), Benji Joya (Santos Laguna; San Jose, Calif.), Mikey Lopez (Sporting Kansas City; Mission, Texas), Collin Martin (Wake Forest; Chevy Chase, Md.), Dillon Serna (Colorado Rapids; Brighton, Colo.), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew; Gahanna, Ohio)
FORWARDS (6):Â Daniel Cuevas (Santos Laguna; Sacramento, Calif.), Daniel Garcia (North Carolina; Dallas, Texas), Alonso Hernandez (C.F. Monterrey; El Paso, Texas), Alfred Koroma (Akron; Southlake, Texas), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders Academy; Mercer Island, Wash.), Victor Pineda (Chicago Fire; Bolingbrook, Ill.)
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The U.S. will compete in the Under-20 World Cup this summer, with the tournament set to run from June 21st to July 13th in Turkey.
What do you think of the squad? Who are you excited to see included? Who are you disappointed to see left out?
Share your thoughts below.
Any update on whether Fox will show these games? I have watched many times and it is a very interesting watch for sure.
Televised on BeIN Sports
I want to see how Joya deals with the added pressure at ACM. I think his mental toughness, defense and distribution, basically his overall game is better there than Gil…we’ll see what happens. At forward, for me, it’s all about Cuevas. Hopefully the refs will call it tight so he’s not subjected to too many hard fouls and punishment. It’s imperative that he stays healthy. I’m curious to see what Hernandez and Morris bring. Ultimately, we will only go as far as the back four takes us. Not a good situation with the makeshift CBs and no JAB.
Anybody know the story with Maryland’s Schillo Tshuma? Pretty sure he grew up in Virginia so he should be eligible.. enough… He’s the projected top Superdraft pick – 2014???
Believe he played for Ghana’s youth teams. If so then he would probably have to file a one time switch. He scored 10 goals his freshman year. Ives listed him in a previous article as a player to have a breakout year in college soccer.
I’ve heard of a couple of these names, but being on the more casual side of fandom I sure would love a post from SBI about all the high quality youth in the US system and what they project to be. A farm report, if you will.
agreed, although it’s very hard to project young players going forward without seeing them day in day out
Does RBNY have an academy? Every other team has someone in the mix. For this tourney or others. We just seem to be missing the bus. I hope once NY 20 gets here there’ll start a youth system in queens. Perhaps take advantage of the densest immigrant population in the country. With the “Cosmos” looking to make the Belmont their home they’ll have Long Island locked up with a huge domestic youth soccer establishment.
This is getting weary.
The US U-18’s have Moreno. No need to get so stressed
Chris Lema was on the U17s. Brandon Allen and Dan Medzgter have been on previous U20 teams. Wesley Wade, Adem Najem and a few others were on previous U17 teams. Some of the RB Academy players are from Nyc. Also Cosmos has a very good Academy in NY.
No JAB for the U-20 WC. Wouldn’t commit in time. Which means if he is still unwilling to committ then don’t expect to see him on the Gold Cup roster either.
Just want to point out that he is still age eligible for the 2015 German U-21’s.
i wonder why mario rodriguez isnt on this team.
Huh. Good question. Injury? Maybe Tab doesn’t rate him? Surprising.
idk, he played a big part in qualifying, it has to be something else. at least i hope it is.
Rodriguez has 2 league games and the Cup Final during Toulon.
gotcha, thanks for the info.
Would have liked to see Brandon Allen called over players like Alfred Koroma, Victor Pineda or Jordan Morris. Allen had 16 goals for Georgetown in his freshman year. The year before he scored 28 goals in 24 games for Red Bulls Academy. He got called for U20 qualifying but got little playing time. This would have been a good opportunity to take a closer look at him.
Not needed moving on. Morris has way more upside.
Players I would like to see
John Brooks
Fabian Hurzeler
Julian Green
Duane Holmes
and most importantly Bryan Salazar – Houston Dynamo academy – Im hoping again, he was not called up because he’s waiting to graduate high school
Blaise is that you? JAB wouldn’t commit to the team in time for the U-20 WC. Brooks is no longer in the player pool for the U-20’s.
link to this info? i’m assuming you are talking about a provisional 35 man roster or something? can they not put him on that list and then worry about it when they need to select the final roster?
link to this info? i’m a$$uming you are talking about a provisional 35 man roster or something? can they not put him on that list and then worry about it when they need to select the final roster?
Follow twitter. Ramos stated that he would not commit in time.
i dont do twitter, so i did not know. just found what you are talking about. that sucks
Yeah, it wasnt letting me make comments with that name for awhile because i called ives a sellout for reporting about liga mx
You too! … Freaking Ives…I noticed he does that on his live Q&A’s… Only answers what he wants …
Dude, there is only one guy that touts Salazar…finally get fed up with the 5000 trolls on the ESPN site.
If Jeffrey Payeras eventually comes to MLS, would the Galaxy be able to sign him as a home grown player since he went through their academy?
That’s a good question. Probably not. I believe he has dual citizenship and he signed a pro contract with Municipal when he was 17. He never signed a Pro Contract with the MLS so they may have no rights. ( But you never know, they seem to have some kind of “rights” to every soccer player in the country. As for a “homegrown” contract, the time for that may have expired. Now that he is a pro, he is subject to FIFA transfer rules. The Galaxy could sign him as a discovery player. I have a feeling he will spend a few years at Municiipal before he would sign with the MLS.
Have we had a player before who was a cd Chivas player represent the us at the youth level? At what point does that become against the chivas rules (or did they relax that recently)?
http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2013/03/11/american-exports-exception-allows-juan-pablo-ocegueda-remain-chivas-de-guada
He is also on loan from i think Tigres or Punam so im pretty sure that is why he is allowed to train with them. To be fair, CD Chivas tried to loan him to Chivas USA
but they couldn’t because of…you guessed it, the allocation rule. DUMB.
” ‘At the moment it seemed like a great option for me. They have also Chivas USA here, so it seemed like a great option – either if I stay over there or come back here.’
Or so he thought. Instead, MLS mechanisms prevented the move.”
Anyone know if Toulon will be televised?
it used to be on foxsoccer but im not sure about this year
The Rapids beat writer tweeted that Shane O’Neill may not being going to the tournament as the Rapids would like to hold on to him. It makes total sense. Like Gil and Villarreal — who were excluded — Shane plays a vital role for the Rapids backline. As a Rapids supporter I am glad the club is stepping in and requesting a stay. We can’t afford to have Shane gone twice this summer for extended time periods. I’m sure the Rapids talked to Ramos and got some reassurances before making a request.
Um, no villareal? Did I read that wrong or is something going on with him?
Oh nevermind, I should read more thoroughly.
JAB – Upgraded to Gold Cup???
We can hope, but you’ve gotta think that he would rather play for the U-20s since that’s a non-binding commitment.
That said, the gesture of choosing the US U-20s over the German U-21s would blacklist him for a while with the senior Mannschaft. So in essence, he’s effectively choosing his permanent allegiance with the decision whether or not he officially gets cap-tied with the GC squad or not (with the U-20s).
Der Mannschaft has other options and they are better than JAB. The US is really his only choice
and you know this how??
Also was wondering if his newly promoted club asked for him not to be called up.
He will not go to Gold Cup Klinsman has stated before that young players should work their way up. He will be getting fitted for a German Uni at that time.
Hurts to lose BOTH Brooks and Johansen
Hurts more we cant develop anyone ourselves
No Walker Zimmerman?
Just came off a long injury that he picked up in preseason.
But he’s been playing a bit, no?
Hasn’t he only played some garbage minutes for FCD?
Anyway, honest question…
Is he better/more match ready than O’Neill, who has played almost every match for Colorado this season, or than Stanko, who gets solid minutes for the reserves of one of the best 1.Bundesliga squads?
Wouldn’t this be a great tournament to help get him back in to shape then? This tournament is nothing but a prep for the U-20 World Cup where he is a potential key player and captain. A few appearances here will help him get back to where he needs to be. Obviously I know little about if FC Dallas would even allow him to go, but it seems like it would be a good chance to get some reps with the team.
I suppose with George John out and a rookie starting back there, FCD need the cover.
Yes. John is out, so Zimmerman is necessary for FCD.
Cuba has a sweet kit. We should take a page out of their book.
That would be complicated considering they’re Adidas and USA is Nike.
…Not sure if serious…
Good roster for this Toulon Tourney.
JAB still undecided it seems.
Exctied to see Morris and Hernandez.