U-20 Roster for CONCACAF Qualifying

Check out the roster below for the 2009 CONCACAF U-20 Championship, starting on March 6th in Trinidad and Tobago. Some notable players include Jorge Flores (pictured above), Bryan Arguez, Brek Shea, Jared Jeffrey, and Anthony Wallace. Not as many big name as last time (Freddy Adu, Jozy Altidore), but hopefully this qualifying tournament along with U-20 World Cup in Egypt will help us identify a few future stars for the senior team. Check out the press release here for the full explanation of Aaron Mund's status with the team.

Player	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Birthdate		Club/College
Agbossoumonde, Gale	D	6-2	185	11/17/91		unattached
Arguez, Bryan	M	6-2	175	01/13/89		Hertha Berlin (Germany)
Cruz, Danny	M	5-8	180	01/03/90		Houston Dynamo
Davies, Kyle	D	5-10	160	04/11/89		Southampton FC (England)
Duka, Dilly	M	5-9	160	09/15/89		Rutgers University
Flores, Jorge	D	5-11	150	09/16/89		Chivas USA
Garza, Sam	F	5-10	165	10/17/89		University of Denver
Jeffrey, Jared	M	5-10	160	06/14/90		Club Brugge (Belgium)
Johnson, Sean	GK	6-4	220	05/31/89		University of Central Florida
Lambo, Josh	GK	6-0	205	11/19/90		FC Dallas
Marosevic, Peri	F	5-9	160	05/05/89		FC Dallas
Maund, Aaron*	D	6-2	175	09/19/90		Notre Dame
Okugo, Amobi	D	5-11	165	03/13/91		San Juan Lightning Crew
Ownby, Brian	M	5-11	160	07/16/90		University of Virginia
Perk, Brian	GK	5-11	180	07/21/89		UCLA
Shea, Brek	M	6-3	180	02/28/90		FC Dallas
Schuler, Billy	F	5-11	155	04/27/90		UNC
Taylor, Tony	F	6-0	175	07/13/89		Jacksonville University
Wallace, Anthony	D	5-11	165	01/26/89		FC Dallas
Williams, Sheanon	D	5-11	165	03/17/90		unattached

*Pending FIFA approval

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Rongen Calls 26 in for U-20 Camp

Thomas Rongen has called in 26 players for a camp taking place in Bradenton, Florida from Feb. 4-15. The CONCACAF U-20 Championships begin March 6th and this camp roster should give us a pretty good idea of who will be on Rongen's final 20 player squad. After an injury Gale Abossoumonde replaced Ike Opara from Wake Forest. Check out the list, is anyone missing that you would like to see? How do you think this squad compares to past U-20 teams?

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Youth Development in the US

Check out the following articles "examining the structure and organization of the USSF and it's youth programs." Basically, Jeff Carlisle from ESPN is doing a five-part piece examining the current setup of the USSF youth setup. Click here to read Part 1 and here to read Part 2. Hopefully, the reforms that are being made will help us produce better players (Like Jozy), and eliminate the politics and disorganization of the American youth soccer system. It's a pretty interesting read, especially for those have dealt with the BS of youth club soccer.

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MLS Making Moves; US Soccer Announcements

While is MLS is out getting that TV money, US Soccer is announcing awards and youth national team news. Kudos to MLS for expanding its global brand; more exposure can only mean good things for the future, especially when you are getting over $10 mill in the process. Props also go to US Soccer for getting it right by honoring Tim Howard, Carli Lloyd, Sacha Kljestan, and Kristie Mewis as US Soccer's players of the year. Howard and Lloyd took home the overall awards, while Kljestan and Mewis took home the yout player awards.

Now for the YNT news: Newly appointed U-18 coach Mike Matkovic called in a buttload of players for his first camp, while the U-20's wrapped up their recent camp down in Florida with a couple of victories. Zac MacMath (pictured above), who just helped UMD to an NCAA Championship, is a notable inclusion in the U-18 camp. Danny Cruz, Sheanon Williams, and Sam Garza chipped in the goals that helped the U-20's top Haiti and Canada, 2-0 and 1-0 respectively.

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Brazil U-17's vs Us U-17's - Round 2 Highlights

Coutinho is ridiculous. After two goals in the first game, the #10 for Brazil once again showed his dominance in this match, with some nifty footwork and an assist(Classy first goal for Brazil). I posted about this game yesterday, but here are the highlights above. US definitely showed better in this one, and with some better finishing could have won the match. Nice to see a little glimpse of Stefan Jerome's potential in the 72nd minute, when he won a slide tackle and did a good job of beating his defender and getting a shot off. Too bad I missed this game on Sunday and had to settle for highlights, because this looked like a pretty entertaining game for 17 year old's.

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Better, But Not Good Enough at Nike Friendlies

In a rematch of the game that took place on Friday, Brazil U-17's once again topped the American teenagers, this time by a score of 2-1. Here is the report courtesy of US Soccer. Jack McInerney put the US ahead but strikes by Wellington and Joao Pedro led Brazil to victory. Although the results were not great over the weekend (0-2-1 including a 3-3 tie with Australia), the U-17's, who used a large pool of players, can come away from the weekend with the experience of playing against top competition. Young prospects that played over the weekend for US include Charles Renken and Stefan Jerome.

Note: The US U-17's were broken up into two teams (one red, one blue) with some players playing in both Brazil matches and others playing against Australia. The photo above comes courtesy of the YNT blog over at US Soccer.

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Brazil Youngsters Dominate US in First Match

On Friday, in the first of two games that were played between the Brazil U-17's and the USA's U-17's this weekend, Brazil thoroughly dominated and came away with a victory and a 3-0 scoreline. Coutinho had two goals for Brazil, and almost had an incredible third, courtesy of some masterful dribbling. Check out the video above. Not too much in this first game to talk about from the American side, I will be back later with the result from the match that took place yesterday.

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U-20's, Rongen Learn from Madrid Trip

Thomas Rongen and the US Men's U-20 team had a rough time during their camp in Madrid, going 0-2-1 over a 8 day span, against the likes of Real and Atletico Madrid's reserves. Andrew Rogers over at ESPN has a nice recap of the trip, and it seems as though Rongen has come out of the camp with a deeper talent pool and a better idea of which players he will be relying on during qualifying. Can the U-20's repeat their performance of 2007, or will this team fall short of expectations without the likes of Freddy Adu, Jozy Altidore, and Michael Bradley.

Update: Goal.com has a profile of one of the players who took part in the trip, Guiseppe Nazzani, an Italian who does not speak English but qualifies for an American passport through his mother.

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U-20 Friendly Result and Qualifying Dates

Thomas Rongen's U-20 squad finished up their camp in Spain with a 2-0 loss to the Rayo Vallencano reserves. The team went 0-2-1 on their trip but the time together should have given Rongen a good chance to evaluate the talent he has available for the upcoming qualifiers.

Speaking of the qualifying tournament, it will take place in early March, in Trinidad & Tobago. Here is the link to the announcement from US Soccer, and a highlight video from the highly entertaining US vs. Poland game, from the last U-20 World Cup. A little taste, to get you excited for upcoming tourney.

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U-20's Come Up Short in Spain

In their first two games during their week-long camp in Spain, the US U-20's lost to Real Madrid's reserves 5-3, and tied Atletico Madrid's reserves 0-0. The trip will conclude tomorrow after a match with Rayo Vallencia's reserves. It's nice to see Rongen bring together a strong squad for camp, before the team reconvenes for U-20 WCQ early next year. Notable players from the MLS include, Tristan Bowen (LA Galaxy), Jorge Flores (Chivas USA), Anthony Wallace (FC Dallas), Abdusalam Ibrahim (Toronto FC), and Josh Lambo (FC Dallas). While lesser known players plying their trade abroad include, Bryan Arguez (Hertha Berlin), Vincenzo Bernardo (SSC Napoli), Kyle Davies (Southampton FC), Gregory Garza (Sporting Lisbon), Jared Jaffrey (Club Brugge), Alfredo Morales (Hertha Berlin), and Giuseppe Nazzani (Bologna FC).

Flores, Bowen and Ibrahim tallied against Real Madrid, while Josh Lambo played the full 90 in net in both games so far.

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