U.S. under-20 national team coach Thomas Rongen called up 20 players to participate in this month’s CONCACAF qualifying tournament in Panama City, Panama. Missing will be midfielder Michael Bradley, son of U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley. U.S. Soccer and Dutch club Heerenveen were unable to come to an agreement on Michael Bradley’s release for the tournament Jan. 17-21.

Called back into the team was Tony Beltran, one of three UCLA players picked for qualifying. Beltran wasn’t selected to the most recent camp but was recalled as cover in midfield for Danny Szetela, the only experienced central midfielder available in Bradley’s absence. “After our final camp,” said Rongen, “we felt that Tony was the best player to replace Szetela if needed due to injury or card accumulation.” The two players called into the final camp but not retained for qualifying were defenders Kyle Davies and Blake Wagner.

The USA will be led by Freddy Adu, who will be looking to play in his third U-20 world championship. Rongen also selected two other players from the ’05 U-20 World Championship team — Nathan Sturgis and Danny Szetela. Adu is one of five ’89 players, meaning they are eligible to play in both the 2007 and 2009 U-20 World Cups.

The U.S. players will meet Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where they will train for three days before heading to Panama. The USA will face Haiti, Guatemala and host Panama at Rommel Fernandez Stadium in Panama City. The top two finishers in Group A will advance to the U-20 World Cup June 30-July 22 in six Canadian cities – Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, Burnaby and Victoria.

CONCACAF QUALIFYING ROSTER:
GOALKEEPERS (2): Brian Perk (UCLA), Chris Seitz (Univ. of Maryland).
DEFENDERS (5): Quavas Kirk (L.A. Galaxy), Ofori Sarkodie (Indiana Univ.), Nathan Sturgis (L.A. Galaxy), Julian Valentin (Wake Forest Univ.), Tim Ward (Columbus Crew).
MIDFIELDERS (7): Freddy Adu (Real Salt Lake), Bryan Arguez (West Kendall Optimists), Tony Beltran (UCLA), Amaechi Igwe (Santa Clara), Danny Szetela (Columbus Crew), Jonathan Villanueva (Univ. of Virginia), Anthony Wallace (Univ. of South Florida).
FORWARDS (6): Andre Akpan (Harvard Univ.), Josmer Altidore (N.Y. Red Bulls), Robbie Rogers (Heerenveen/Netherlands), Johann Smith (Bolton Wanderers/England), Preston Zimmerman (Hamburg/Germany), Sal Zizzo (UCLA).