US Soccer Announces US U-20 Training Camp Roster

On Friday, US Soccer announced its 20 man roster for the U-20 National Teams final foreign training camp. The team will be heading to Honduras from December 15-22 in preparation for the CONCACAF U-20 Championship that will be taking place in Jamaica in January.

While in Honduras, US U-20 coach Tab Ramos’ side will take on the Honduran U-20 National Team on December 18 and 21 at the Estadio Francisco Morazan in San Pedro Sula. No time or streaming have been disclosed to the media at this time although many U-20 games are often either shown live or delayed on US Soccer’s website.

Over 8 current MLS players have been selected for this training camp, including defender Kellyn Acosta (F.C. Dallas,) Marky Delgado (Toronto F.C., formerly of Chivas USA,) and Tommy Thompson (San Jose Earthquakes).

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The player that will likely garner the most interest domestically is Romain Gall. The Columbus Crew forward just recently made the first team for the Crew at the tail end of the 2014 regular season and previously had played F.C. Lorient. He like Paul Arriola and Amando Moreno (both of Club Tijuana) started out in MLS Youth Academies and eventually left for foreign football clubs.

The other domestic player to keep an eye on is Tommy Redding. The Orlando City S.C. midfielder will be joining his club in MLS this season after a promising USL Pro campaign (15 appearances).

From the international crop of players, the one that has garnered the most interested in recent weeks is goalkeeper Zack Steffen. The former University of Maryland and Philadelphia Union Youth Academy player spurned both his former college and former club to join  SC Freiburg in the German Bundesliga.

Arriola is also someone who has garnered significant interest from US Soccer supporters. At 19, the Los Angeles native has already made 19 appearances for The Xolos and is likely to be a major player for the team when the Clausura commences in January.

The US U-20 Team will have one final training camp in January before the CONCACAF U-20 Championships commence. The top four teams in this tournament will make it to the U-20 World Cup in New Zealand in August.

US Soccer and in particular Technical Director Jurgen Klinsmann have pegged this group of players as an affirmation of the changes being made to the game here in the United States. The U-20 squads form in previous World Cups has left a lot to be desired; the team failed to make the 2011 edition and bottom out of the Group Stage in 2009 and 2013.

Here is the full list of players attending next week’s training camp(courtesy of US Soccer🙂

GOALKEEPERS (2) : Santiago Castaño (New York Red Bulls; Union City, N.J.), Zack Steffen (SC Freiburg; Downingtown, Pa.)
DEFENDERS (6): Michael Amick (UCLA; Sunnyvale, Calif.), Conor Donovan (North Carolina State; Fuquay-Varina, N.C.), Matthew Miazga (New York Red Bulls; Clifton, N.J.), Shaquell Moore (Unattached; Powder Springs, Ga.), John Requejo (Club Tijuana; Carpinteria, Calif.),Tyler Turner (Orlando City SC; West Haven, Conn.)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Kellyn Acosta (FC Dallas; Plano, Texas), Fernando Arce (Club Tijuana; Chula Vista, Calif.), Russell Canouse (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim; Lancaster, Pa.), Marco Delgado (Toronto FC; Glendora, Calif.), Romain Gall (Columbus Crew; Herndon, Va.), Lynden Gooch (Sunderland AFC; Santa Cruz, Calif.), Joel Soñora (CA Boca Juniors; Buenos Aires, Argentina)
FORWARDS (4): Paul Arriola (Club Tijuana; Chula Vista, Calif.), Bradford Jamieson IV (LA Galaxy; Los Angeles, Calif.), Amando Moreno (Club Tijuana; Morganville, N.J.), Tommy Thompson (San Jose Earthquakes; Loomis, Calif.)