Photo by ISIPhotos.com
By DAN KARELL
The U.S. Under-17 Men’s National Team are heading to South America with a loaded squad to take on some of the world’s best youngsters.
Head coach Richie Williams has selected a 20-man roster that’s headed to Chile to take part in the Copa Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins tournament from Nov. 18-22. The U.S. will take on hosts Chile, Brazil, and Qatar in the tournament.
“It’s another international tournament for us to get our guys some games,” Williams told SBI in a phone interview. “All three opponents will be good opponents. Brazil and Chile will probably be the stronger of the two but you never know what you’re going to get out of Qatar and I think it’s just another country that you can play that maybe has a different playing style.”
Headlining the squad is high-scoring forward Haji Wright, who has 15 goals and five assists in 16 matches for the U-17s this year, along with midfielder Christian Pulisic (12 goals and six assists in 16 matches) and goalkeeping duo Kevin Silva and Will Pulisic, who each have seven wins this season.
The squad includes six players currently on the books with MLS academies, including Alejandro Zendejas, who signed a Homegrown Player contract earlier this fall with FC Dallas.
After missing out on injury, Vitesse forward and Ormond Beach, Fla. native Kai Koreniuk is included in the squad, and will get another chance to impress Williams and his staff and prove to him that Koreniuk deserves a spot on the 20-man roster for the CONCACAF U-17 Championship next February and March.
It’s just giving our guys more experience and some more international games,” Williams said of the Chilean tournament. “(It also gives us) the ability to look at maybe some guys and give us some opportunities to some guys in international games as qualifying gets closer to see if they can be part of that 20-man roster.”
The U.S. will open the tournament against Chile on Tuesday in the ski resort town of Chillan before traveling north to Talca for their final two games. The U.S. will then face Brazil on Thursday before finishing against Qatar on Saturday.
Per U.S. Soccer, The U.S. U-17’s are 15-5-1 in international competition this year and 16-5-5 overall.
Here’s the U.S. U-17 Men’s National Team squad for the Copa Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins tournament:
GOALKEEPERS (2): William Pulisic (Richmond United; Mechanicsville, Va.), Kevin Silva (Players Development Academy; Bethlehem, Pa.)
DEFENDERS (7): Tyler Adams (New York Red Bulls Academy; Wappingers Falls, N.Y.), Hugo Arellano (LA Galaxy Academy; Norwalk, Calif.), Daniel Barbir (West Bromwich Albion; Allentown, Pa.), Tanner Dieterich (Real Salt Lake AZ; Nashville, Tenn.), John Nelson (Internationals; Medina, Ohio), Logan Panchot (St. Louis Scott Gallagher Missouri; St. Louis, Mo.) Alexis Velela (San Diego Surf; San Diego, Calif.)
MIDFIELDERS (6): George Braima (Crew Soccer Academy; Columbus, Ohio), Eric Calvillo (Real So Cal; Palmdale, Calif.), Keegan Kelly (Baltimore Celtic; Baltimore, Md.), Thomas McCabe (Players Development Academy; South Orange, N.J.), Christian Pulisic (Unattached; Hershey, Pa.), Alejandro Zendejas (FC Dallas, El Paso, Texas)
FORWARDS (5): Pierre Da Silva (New York Soccer Club; Port Chester, N.Y.), McKinze Gaines (Lonestar SC; Austin, Texas), Kai Koreniuk (Vitesse; Ormond Beach, Fla.), Josh Perez (Unattached; La Habra, Calif.), Haji Wright (Unattached; Los Angeles, Calif.)
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What do you think of this roster? Do you like the U.S. U-17s chances in Chile?
Share your thoughts below.
Hey Farva, what’s the name of that restaurant with all that goofy sh@$ on the walls!
you beat me on time, well played
Good luck to every kid who’s trying it in Europe. Your doing the right thing. Have faith, work hard and if all else fails, come back to MLS because theres always the weighted lottery if things don’t work out.
Pretty sure Christian Pulisic is not unattached. He has signed with Dortmunds youth academy. Why can he do this? because he has an EU/Croatian passport. Haji Wright has been training with Schalke’s U-18’s and will be set to sign when he turns 18. Josh Perez has been training with Fiorentina’s youth academy for the past couple of years
The unattached players are the result of Klinsmann’s shenanigans.
Or its just Money. Most things are in the end.
The nxt person to say shenanigans gets pistol wipped
Hey Farva, what’s the name of that place you like with the mozzarella sticks and crazy $h!t all over the walls?
Alejandro Zendejas signed with Dallas yet he appears to be 16… I thought there were issues with American Clubs signing kids under 18 due to labor laws?
I hear about how many MLS academies lose their best prospects to overseas… but maybe they just aren’t offering these contracts soon enough. 16 is fairly young after all.
Not sure about that. DCU didn’t have a problem signing Bobby Convey, Andy Najar or Freddy Adu.
It must come down to money and MLS teams being unwilling or unable(No roster room) to give young players contracts. That’s all I can think of.
I really hope the lower division teams let this change.
Is Haji Wright no longer with the Galaxy Academy? He was a mainstay on their boys teams and even trained with Los Dos and the first team a couple times.
All the “unattached” players are mulling over professional deals (if they haven’t already signed them). Haji is pretty much set on Schalke and has been going over for training when allowed. He can’t go over full-time until he’s 18, so he’s in a bit of limbo.
Those are the kinds of players the new USSF career advisor should be helping out.
“Should” is the key word. Unfortunately, the new guy’s background has nothing to do with the European leagues, where players like Wright are trying to break in. The new guy will be trying to steer such players to sign with MLS, where he helped to run Chivas USA into the ground. After the demise of Chivas USA, Chivas USA academy kids were abandoned by the MLS, which is a shame since 7 kids from their academy made the U14 USMNT team. And, frankly, some of these kids are already on the radar of European clubs and had training stints with their academies. One guest played with ManCity academy, travelling with them to Holland for a tournament, where he earned the tournament’s MVP honors.
There is more than one acceptable development path. Europe isn’t the best one for everyone. Your view is no more nuanced than the coaches you imagine forcing everyone into MLS academies.
I did not say that every single kid should go to Europe. Most are not talented enough to make it there. But going to Europe is a harder path to take, albeit with a greater upside. Those who try to break into teams like Schalke, Dortmund, Utrecht, etc need more help than those who negotiate generation adidas contracts with the MLS. My primary point is that the new person at the USSF, who happens to be a former president of Chivas USA, is ill equipped to help young players who need help the most. My secondary point is that MLS is a bit disingenuous with its claims re youth development and its allegations that Klinsi is giving bad advice to young players to go to Europe, when MLS abandoned a bunch of extremely talented kids from Chivas USA academy. MLS is a single entity, so there are no autonomous, independent clubs there, remember? Four years down the road, when some of those Chivas USA kids would be old enough to sign with European clubs, would the MLS be offering them contracts and taking credit for developing them, if they decide to go to Europe?