By RYAN TOLMICH
U.S. U-20 Men’s National Team coach Tab Ramos has selected a roster of 20 players ahead of the upcoming 2015 CONCACAF U-20 Championship.
Headlined by Fulham midfielder Emerson Hundman and newly-signed Freiberg goalkeeper Zack Steffen, the U.S. is set to kickoff the tournament Jan. 9 against Jamaica before taking on Panama (Jan. 11), Aruba (Jan. 14), Jamaica (Jan. 18) and Trinidad & Tobago (Jan. 21).
“Selecting the final 20 players was extremely difficult,” Ramos said. “This is a group that has a lot of depth. It’s a group that has gotten good results throughout the last 12 to 14 months, regardless of the players we’ve had in. A lot of players have made a good case for being on the team, but in the end, unfortunately, you can only take so many (players). I am very happy with the group we’ve selected.
“Overall, this is a group made up mostly with professional players, and that’s a strength. These are players who are completely dedicated to the sport; players who 100 percent of the time prepare to do well, to get better, and be on the National Team.”
Steffen and midfielder Kellyn Acosta, who will serve as captain, return from the U.S. 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup team, while leading U-20 goalscorer Romain Gall is also set to feature.
The squad features a record 18 professional players on the roster. Only NC State’s Conor Donovan and Shaquell Moore have yet to join the professional ranks.
Perhaps the most interesting inclusion in the roster is Tottenham academy player Cameron Carter-Vickers, who turned 17-years old on New Years Eve. He’ll likely pair up with Matt Miazga in central defense, and it’s an impressive coup for Ramos and his staff to have secured Carter-Vickers release for the tournament.
Have a closer look at the U.S. roster for the 2015 CONCACAF U-20 Championships below:
U.S. U-20 MNT Roster:
GOALKEEPERS (2): Ethan Horvath (Molde FK), Zack Steffen (SC Freiburg)
DEFENDERS (6): Cameron Carter-Vickers (Tottenham Hotspur), Conor Donovan (N.C. State), Matt Miazga (New York Red Bulls), Shaquell Moore (Unattached), John Requejo (Club Tijuana), Tyler Turner (Orlando City)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Kellyn Acosta (FC Dallas), Fernando Arce (Club Tijuana), Russell Canouse (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim), Junior Flores (Borussia Dortmund), Romain Gall (Columbus Crew), Lynden Gooch (Sunderland), Emerson Hyndman (Fulham)
FORWARDS (5): Paul Arriola (Club Tijuana), Bradford Jamieson IV (LA Galaxy), Amando Moreno (Club Tijuana), Ben Spencer (Molde FK), Tommy Thompson (San Jose Earthquakes)
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What do you think of the U.S. roster? What do you see as the starting XI in the upcoming tournament?
Share your thoughts below.
Watch out for Panama and dont be surprised if they win the group
When this summers under 20 World Cup is over, the American player that will be most coveted…… Conor Donovan.
Nate, I believe Carter-Vickers is also eligible for England so its a good look if we can get his commitment early.
“it’s an impressive coup for Ramos and his staff to have secured Carter-Vickers release for the tournament”
can someone explain why getting an academy kid released would be an ‘impressive coup’? i would assume that, if a player is not in contention for the gameday 18 (like hyndman or rubin), the clubs would want their kids to get competitive minutes and exposure.
You would think that clubs & managers would want kids to get competitive minutes and exposure….but the fact of the matter is that clubs in Europe (England in particular) have always held a belief that U-national teams (outside their own) were not worth the risk to their investments. Hence the “Impressive Coup” for getting Hyndmann & Carter-Vickers released.
Why wouldn’t julian green get called in for this?
He’s simply too good for this team and too valuable for Hamburg to release
Argument in another thread contended that his participation in UEFA qualifers with Germany disqualified him for the US
Correct. Green is not eligible for our U-20 team unfortunately. A reality Tab confirmed awhile ago:
“RAMOS: For Julian, the reason he cannot be considered for the U-20 team is because he has already played for the German U-19 team in European qualifiers. So he is not eligible for our U-20 national team. I’m not sure how the Olympics work but he will probably be eligible for the Olympics but not for the U-20s.”
Oops. Midfield is 1(38). I was sure that the most experienced player, Mikey Delgado (37 MLS games) was on the list.
-Kinda surprised hyndmann got released for this tournament, he is usually in their gameday 18, but hey im not complaining.
-This is a really solid, deep squad, lots of senior experience in there, and have we ever seen a youth national team with these kind of club affiliations?
-Pending qualification this WC team could make quite a statement, you have to think zelalem will be included, as well as rubin and possibly julian green.
That being said, this is my starting 11, however with how fast and furious these games go, everyone will get lots of minutes
———————Jamieson IV——————–
Thompson———Flores—————–Arriola–
————–Acosta—–Hyndman——————
Requejo——-Miazga—-Carter-Vickers–Moore
———————Steffen———————————–
I don’t know much about this team, but why would you leave your top goalscorer (Gall) on the bench?
Just based on his resume as a player. Gall plays as an attacking mid so theres three spots on the field for him. I love thompson, and think he might be the most talented guy on this squad. Arriola has double digit senior appearances in liga mx. Then as far as junior flores, kindof an unknown quantity, tons of hype and a high ceiling, but havent seen much of him. While gall was let go of by a ligue 1 side and hasnt been getting much time with the crew.
I would drop Junior, move Arriola up top next to J-IV, and put Gall wide left.
Junior has always been regarded as being a level higher than those guys.
I don’t doubt that he is regarded highly by lots of folks who have not seen him play much. However, Those guys have more experience at a higher level, playing league games in the first division (J-IV in USL) and not at club U-20s.
Junior’s coach at BD II (in the 3rd division) hasn’t seen fit to play him yet.
3rd div Bundesliga is much, much, much, much better than 3rd division US soccer (USL). I don’t want to be nasty, but you’re just wrong on this one, Darwin.
I never said anything that wasn’t factual.
Junior hasn’t played in a pro league game (3rd Bundesliga or any)
I never compared USL with 3rd div Bundesliga. Arriola and Gall have played 1st Div. BJ-IV has played there as well as in USL. Junior has never played in 3rd Bundesliga, but their youth teams. I’m sorry, but Sac. Republic beats Dortmund kids 9 out of 10 times.
My original comment was to make one change to the posters formation.
I don’t like red herring much, and you’ve come across as nasty.
Been following Flores and Rubin for years now and have seen Flores about 5-6 times since he was 14. I’ve actually always preferred him to Rubin, but probably because he’s got a flashier game that shows better in limited viewings as opposed to Rubin who is just so solid and smart and mature. Very tough to project high skill level guys like Junior. He def has great skills for his age but as he climbs up the ranks, so does everyone at that attacking midfield spot. He would have to keep improving at a faster rate than everyone else and also do enough defending, working, and the little things and also master the tactics necessary to run a team. The difference between highly skilled and elite level skill is hard to tell until you see them against elite level competition.
Been following those two as well. With the U-17s and Junior playing up a couple years, he looked very compact and skilled. However, one has to be curious how he has developed since arriving at the Dortmund academy, and why he isn’t breaking into the second team.
He’s played and scored goals for the Dortmund U19s and he just joined the setup late this summer so it’s not surprising that he’s not playing for Dortmund II yet I don’t think. This is his first full time professional gig at, what 18 years old? He has to learn how to train properly and learn the Dortmund way. They have a very specific training methods and expectations from their players. I’d imagine that, for the first year, it’s more about how he trains than how he plays, and his playing time will be based on how he takes to the training methods. Dortmund is world renowned for producing talent, so they’re completely loaded. He’s fighting with some of the best young players in the world for time. Hopefully this will be a great learning experience for him and won’t break him.
red herrings all over the place. The question isn’t what are the obstacles before Junior, but is he ready to start in WCQ and the only argument that I can make, since I don’t watch Dortmund U-20s, is based on the experience of professional games (since he is touted as a professional and we are obsessed with how many pros are in X or Y youth team).
I’m reading that Julian Green is cup-tied to Germany
This is a nice group. It is a shame EPB is injured but we will see how he copes with the injury in the upcoming campaign.
All this talk about depth and it’s certainly ONLY in midfield. Our forward and defense looks thin and inexperienced.
Glad to se Emmo though.
Breakdown of Pro experience on this roster:
format: division(games)
Goalkeeper: (0)
Defense: 1(11), 2(39)
Midfield: 1(75), 3+(7)
Forward: 1(43), 2(18), 3+(17)
Oops. Midfield is 1(38). I was sure that the most experienced player, Mikey Delgado (37 MLS games) was on the list.
In case anyone is wondering, as I looked it up myself, all of these games will be broadcast on Fox Sports 2.
Word, thanks… good news
The channel that no one gets.
I get it. Muahahahaha.
Rubin is already playing senior ball for Utrecht. Teams don’t usually give up integral senior players for youth qualifying tournaments. The rules don’t require it. I could see him being brought in for the big tournament if they qualify.
By comparison you look at Hyndman and he plays occasionally but not much. You’re almost doing each other a favor by sending him to a high quality tournament where he’ll play and hopefully perform and get confidence.
Considering the timing I am interested that Zelalem is not involved. I would think that would be the whole point to getting him a passport and committed. Maybe the goal is this summer instead, if we qualify.
Some of the others may simply be preferences by Ramos.
I believe there is some process after gaining citizenship that the player needs to go through after gaining citizenship, prior to being eligible to represent your new country. Or at least that is what the Gulati tweet made it seem like. “beginning the process” or the like. So perhaps they did not expect to complete that process prior to the date they had to submit rosters.
In addition, just maybe Wenger hopes to bleed him in, during the next few months while Wilshere is injured.
If anyone would prefer to manage a young player’s roadmap – at this point in his development, it’s probably Arsene.
He has to go through changing NT affiliation.
Solid group. Surprised no EPB, Felipe, Martir, Sonora, Novakovich, or Rubin. My guess is some of these guys didn’t get released.
EPB is probably still injured.
Yup he is. Totally forgot.
Agreed, but not sure who I would drop to add those guys. Really solid group all around. Rubin, EPB and Redding I’m surprised not to see though.
ok, Rubin, EPB, Redding must be on the U-20 WC… not excuses about it… the only one I see performed under level is the dual cit, mexican kid Arce…. Redding have played DM in the past and done well under Ramos, he can also pull a double duty as CB which is his natural position….
Rubin was not released.
Agreed, but not sure who I would drop to add those guys. Really solid group all around. Rubin, EPB, Sonora and Redding I’m surprised not to see though, but as you said se probably just didn’t get released
Agreed, but not sure who I would drop to add those guys. Really solid group all around. Rubin, EPB, Sonora and Redding I’m surprised not to see though, but as you said some probably just didn’t get released
No Joel Sonora?
Yep, he is on the list according to Mlssoccer.com
Great, What channel are these games on?
Usually FoxSports carries these matches
Fox Sports 2 is showing all of the US and Mexico games.
No, that’s false. Spencer is on the roster not Sonora.
Correct. Sonora was on the version of the roster that CONCACAF posted. A little confusion there.