The U.S. under-20 men’s national team kicks off its CONCACAF U-20 Championship schedule in seven days and Michael Nsien released his roster for the upcoming tournament.
Keyrol Figueroa, Nimfasha Berchimas, and Cruz Medina headlined Nsien’s 21-player roster, U.S. Soccer announced Friday. The tournament will run from July 18-August 4 in Celaya and Irapuato, Mexico.
The Americans face off with Jamaica on July 19, Cuba on July 22, and Costa Rica on July 25 in Group A play. Four berths into the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup will be clinched at the Concacaf U-20 Championship.
Nine players were a part of the United States’ strong showing at the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup last fall in Indonesia. Figueroa, Berchimas, Medina and goalkeeper Adam Beaudry were among those players.
Defender Nolan Norris and midfielders Sergio Oregel Jr. and Brooklyn Raines helped the U.S. take fourth at the 2023 Pan American Games in Chile.
The USMNT U-20’s are aiming for their fourth-straight Concacaf title after taking home their first three championships at this age level in 2017, 2018 and 2022.
Here is a closer look at the full USMNT U-20 roster:
GOALKEEPERS: Adam Beaudry (Colorado Rapids; Castle Pines, Colo.), Julian Eyestone (Brentford FC/ENG; Dallas, Texas), Duran Ferree (Orange County SC; San Diego, Calif.)
DEFENDERS: Luca Bambino (Los Angeles FC; Saugus, Calif.), Noah Cobb (Atlanta United FC; Chattanooga, Tenn.), Aiden Harangi (Eintracht Frankfurt/GER; Reston, Va.), Stuart Hawkins (Seattle Sounders FC; Fox Island, Wash.), Ethan Kohler (Werder Bremen/GER; Campbell, Calif.), Nolan Norris (FC Dallas; Fort Worth, Texas)
MIDFIELDERS: Taha Habroune (Columbus Crew; Columbus, Ohio), Cruz Medina (San Jose Earthquakes; San Francisco, Calif.), Sergio Oregel Jr. (Chicago Fire FC; Chicago, Ill.), Brooklyn Raines (Houston Dynamo FC; Chicago, Ill.), Pedro Soma (UE Cornella/ESP; Coconut Creek, Fla.), Niko Tsakiris (San Jose Earthquakes; Saratoga, Calif.)
FORWARDS: Nimfasha Berchimas (Charlotte FC; High Point, N.C.), Keyrol Figueroa (Liverpool/ENG; Warrington, England), Zavier Gozo (Real Salt Lake; Eagle Mountain, Utah), Ruben Ramos Jr. (LA Galaxy; La Puente, Calif.), David Vazquez (Philadelphia Union; Los Angeles, Calif.), Marcos Zambrano (Vitoria Guimaraes/POR; Parkland, Fla.)
ALTERNATES: Diego Garcia (FC Dallas; El Paso, Texas), Santiago Morales (Inter Miami CF; Weston, Fla.), Fritz Volmar (Northwestern University; Peoria, Ill.).
With Berhalter gone i would hope each age groups coach would be allowed to create his/her own system/formation. It’s just plain fking stupid to not develop players into a system that best suits their strengths instead of forcing a square peg into a round hole. Bye Gregg.
Noah Cobb is a legit young talented CB. His continued development along with Neal’s at the Galaxy gives me some hope for the future of our CB’s.
Anyone know how Wynder is doing with Benficas youth? Seeing he only made 2 appearances last season with Brnfica B.
And Stuart hawking at 17 looks to be legit too. Probably won’t be long until he sees some first team minutes at Seattle
Josh Wydner: sports hernia
Justin Che: knee injury
Kobe Henry: unknown injury
23/24 was not a good year for US 21 under CBs in Europe. (Henry and Che too old for U20s)
Injured all year.
Not that any of our young yanks has ever done well in Portugal anyway.
Churn and burn at the Big 3. If you don’t make it fast you don’t make it and are discarded.
It would be nice to have Kochen, Campbell, and Rudisil. This roster is almost exact to the June roster that won in SA against Uruguay and Argentina so should be good enough. A lot of guys from the U17 WC group.
Which means all are a part of preseason first teams.
This age group has some real depth.
Also add to the fact thst Bjaraktarivic and Cremaschi are age eligible too. Both who could potentially be added for the u20 WC next summer assuming the team qualifies.
Esmir is gone, he’s going to represent Bosnia. No official announcement but to his generation you change the flag on your Instagram and it’s official.
I think JR is right about Esmir. And I think it’s a bit of a shame. I think he’s upset about the Olympic team, although he really wasn’t ready for that. He has a lot of promise, but a lot of things in his game to work on. Still, he would certainly be competitive in the u20s. I doubt Porter would have released him given the Revs’ roster issues, but maybe a conversation about involving him in the future would have kept him. But maybe not.
Nkh: I guess depending on who the US hired it could change, but I doubt securing a 19 yr old with 4 career goals probably will be high on the list. Bosnia has NL in Sept and October.
I don’t think that means he is gone. He has had thr Bosnian flag up before. If he has had made that decision then the best of luck to him.
2tone, yes but he took down the US flag.
JR. I generally agree there. I do not think the future of the USMNT is riding on this decision. But I understand his frustration if, say, a guy like Medina is an automatic inclusion despite no real development as a player in the last two years and 0 MLS minutes this season on an even worse team than NE. I do sometimes wonder about the player evaluations the system is making. And I’m now sounding like IV.
Nkh: Esmir always been played up while Medina only ever plays with his age group. Why wasn’t Esmir with U20s when Medina was? Because he was with the U23s. Medina didn’t get invited to NT camp in January, USSF has clearly put Esmir above him. This really seems about Mitrovic not picking him. The whole dropping the US flag on Instagram came after being in Olympic camp in June. At least he got called in, Diego Luna didn’t even get that.
JR. Fair. There are arguments I can see for not calling in Luna. I’m not sure I buy them all, or, at least, I think there are equally or more compelling arguments for bringing him to the Olympics. I still think that all of this is relatively poor systematic management of the player pool.
I think my biggest criticism is how do you not at least bring Diego into camp in June. Mitrovic has stayed very tied to Berhalter’s 4-3-3 with two 8s. If you remember Varas in the last U20 WC was in between Berhalter eras and played with much more flexibility. Using 3-4-3, using Luna as a false 9. Once Berhalter returned it was back to the 4-3-3 for everyone. Guys like Diego don’t fit as well into that 4-3-3 unless they have freedom to drop into that #10 space at times.
We don’t seem to value players “in form” as our pool quality increases. I think that’s a poor approach. I have no problem if Esmir leaves. We have treated him well, he has been treated well in this country. If he runs the first time there is an issue it means he never wanted to represent us. At least we aren’t wasting a slot and time on him. Same with Vargas.
Well, on the bright of missing players from Under 20’s: pre-season with the first team.
Still, great group of players.