Incentives abound for the U.S. U-20s to perform well at their World Cup. Winning the title is just one of them.

Alexander Yi says it’s personal.Kyle Martino says it’s his.Kenny Arena relishes the experience he’ll accrue. D.J. Countess wants to savor every moment as if it were his last.

For every player accompanying U.S. under-20 coach Wolfgang Suhnholz to Argentina, there is motive – besides the obvious – to perform well at the June 17-July 8 World Youth Championship.

Forget patriotism, forget honor. There’s far more at stake than a trophy.

FIFA’s U-20 World Cup opens the door to the future, and what the Americans accomplish in their eighth championship appearance – and how they achieve it – could determine the directions their paths follow. They know this.

“This isn’t like 17s with residency, where we were so close and so tight, and [the world championship] was our only goal,” says already-a-star forward Landon Donovan, one of eight U-20s from the squad that reached the U-17 semifinals 15 months ago. “There’s other goals now. We’ve got more of a professional outlook – we want to go and represent our country well, but this is also for our professional careers. We want to do well for ourselves.”

Suhnholz, a former pro in his native Germany and in the NASL, understands this. “Part of my job,” he says, “is to get these kids to realize that what they’re doing is all a learning experience for when they are hopefully playing for the full [national] team.”

It’s all about the future. “I just want to learn as much as I can, try to get better as a player,” says Arena, a defensive midfielder. “Can’t ask anything more than that.”

WORLD SUPERMARKET. What occurs in Argentina could mean the difference between another year of college soccer and a European contract. The U-20 championship is, above all, a supermarket.

“Everyone wants a chance,” says Yi, a central defender from UCLA. “Everyone wants to create an opportunity for himself. I guess a lot of that has to do with the aspect of going pro or staying in school. I think a lot of the guys are looking to go pro.”

Donovan and midfielders DaMarcus Beasley and Bobby Convey – sort of the U-20s’ holy trinity of brilliant attackers – are quickly becoming accomplished pros. Forward Conor Casey is in Germany. Midfielder Seth Trembly, forward Edson Buddle and several others from the U-20 pool are in MLS.

It’s the most professional U-20 team the Americans have fielded, and there exist considerable expectations for their success – product of the U-17s, of the Olympic semifinals, of all those pros.

Much of it is Donovan, Beasley and Convey, all part of that U-17 team, who attack with precision and flair and – teaming with target man Casey and right back Oguchi Onyewu – provide attacking possibilities previous U.S. teams haven’t known.

Suhnholz praises Beasley’s “speed and personality,” says he has “a heart like a lion.” Convey, he says, “is incredibly smart … he reads the game.”

Donovan? He’s something else.

“Without taking away anything from the others,” Suhnholz confides, “Landon for me – I shouldn’t say that, but I’m a Landon Donovan fan. It’s tough for a coach to say that. People don’t realize, he’s an absolute team player. The guy could have scored six, seven goals [during qualifying]. He always put it to a better-positioned player. The opportunities we missed!

“And he did some things that were incredible. You can’t describe them. His workrate is incredible. A lot of people thought of him as a typical goalscorer – myself included. Above that, he’s a complete player.”

HIGH EXPECTATIONS. The trio elevates the Yanks, providing they eliminate defensive breakdowns, among nearly a dozen countries – half the field – that appear capable of capturing the title.

“I hope there is pressure [on us],” proclaims Countess, the No. 1 goalkeeper. “I like it, and I think the others do as well, when you’re on the pedestal, when you have high expectations, and other people do, too.

“I’d love for people to expect the best from us and hope we win the World Cup, because those are our expectations.”

“We shouldn’t think ahead to July 8,” says Suhnholz, whose squad will face China (June 17), Chile (June 20) and Ukraine (June 23) in Mendoza during the first stage. “Our objective should be to win the first game, to make it to the next round. Should that be our ultimate goal? Of course not. We want to do better than the 20s did last time [11th], better than any American team has done [fourth in 1989], but, of course, we can’t look ahead. I refuse to think ahead.

“But ask me if we have a chance. I want to believe: Of course we have a chance. On the other hand, I don’t want to think so far ahead.”

SO CLOSE. Suhnholz knows his players, for all their protests to the contrary, do look ahead.

“[The former U-17s] probably have the attitude that they’ve been there, to the final four, so close to making the final,” he says. “I can see they think about it, dream about it, and they have more reality to their dreams than the other ones.”

Yi agrees. He says this tournament is “kind of a personal thing” for the former U-17s, who lost on penalty kicks to Australia in the semifinals. It’s an opportunity to slam shut a door to the past.

Teammates who weren’t part of it, he says can’t “really understand it until you’re there, until you step on the field the first time, listen to your anthem. Then it hits you in the face.”

Martino, a creative midfielder, can’t wait. “I’ve been on the national team since I was 14,” he says. “I was a year or two too young for the U-17s [in 1997] and a year or two too old [in ’99]. I’ve been dreaming about the U-20 World Cup a long time.”

Appreciate every moment, Countess advises.

“Every game could be your last game,” he says. “Maybe you’ll never wear a national team uniform again. You don’t know when it’s going to end. You’ve got to take every opportunity and run with it.”

by Soccer America senior editor Scott French