United States under-20 national team coach Thomas Rongen called up 21 players to participate in the team’s final training camp Dec. 30-Jan. 6 at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., before this month’s CONCACAF qualifying tournament in Panama City, Panama.
Missing from the camp are Michael Bradley of Dutch club Heerenveen and Johann Smith of England’s Bolton Wanderers. Bradley’s availability for qualifying has not yet been confirmed, which forced Rongen to delay the announcement of his final camp roster and to bring 21 players into camp. (He will take 20 players to Panama.) Smith will be released by Bolton for the qualifying tournament and will join the team when it regroups on Jan. 10 in Fort Lauderdale.
Of the 26 players that participated in the U-20s’ last camp in the middle of December, 19 were invited back for this final camp. Dax McCarty of FC Dallas was the only pro dropped. Along with Rogers, forward Preston Zimmerman, who plays for Hamburg in Germany, is the only other player on the roster who was not in the prior camp in Bradenton.
U.S. U-20 ROSTER:
GOALKEEPERS (2): Brian Perk (UCLA), Chris Seitz (Univ. of Maryland).
DEFENDERS (9): Kyle Davies (Ballistic United), Amaechi Igwe (Santa Clara Univ.), Quavas Kirk (L.A. Galaxy), Ofori Sarkodi (Indiana Univ.), Nathan Sturgis (L.A. Galaxy), Julian Valentin (Wake Forest Univ.), Blake Wagner (FC Dallas), Anthony Wallace (Univ. of South Florida), Tim Ward (Columbus Crew).
MIDFIELDERS (5): Freddy Adu (D.C. United), Bryan Arguez (West Kendall Optimists), Jeremy Hall (Univ. of Maryland), Danny Szetela (Columbus Crew), Jonathan Villanueva (Univ. of Virginia).
FORWARD (5): Andre Akpan (Harvard Univ.), Josmer Altidore (N.Y. Red Bulls), Robbie Rogers (Heerenveen/Netherlands), Preston Zimmerman (Hamburg/Germany), Sal Zizzo (UCLA).