After seeing the strides taken by fellow U.S. national teams — the wins over Germany by the senior and Olympic teams and the U-17s’ triumphs over Argentina, England, Germany and France — the U-20 squad is ready to do its part to further the image of American soccer around the globe. It’ll get the chance starting April 5, when it takes on England in a Group E opener at the World Youth Championship in Nigeria, but these Yanks are ready for a little praise right now. “We certainly want to prove ourselves, but we think we’ve been lost in the shuffle, that we’ve been overlooked a little bit,” U.S. coach Sigi Schmid says. “The last big thing for us was qualifying [last August], and we think we handled ourselves really well. “[U.S.] teams are getting notoriety in friendlies, and friendlies are friendlies. One of the things this team takes a lot of pride in is getting things done when it’s time for the real thing.” That time is now, and the Yanks head for Africa buoyed by the return of what has been a stagnant attack and with more experience than a U.S. team has ever taken into an under-age championship. Among their goals is to be considered the best U-20 squad the United States has produced. Included on the 18-man roster are seven veterans of the 1995 or ’97 U-17 World Championships — goalkeepers Tim Howard and Nick Rimando, defender Dan Califf, midfielders Nick Garcia, Nick Downing and Francisco Gomez and forward Taylor Twellman — and everyone, besides Twellman and midfielder John Thorrington, who was recently granted U.S. citizenship, was part of the strong U-20 qualifying campaign. “[The former U-17 players] have been through it — they’ve been in a World Cup opening game, they’ve been through a three-game series where you need so many points to move on — and that’s a big plus,” Schmid says. He’s happy that his players appear to have regained their form after a series of difficult matches this year. They broke out of a scoring slump in their final two preparation matches, routing Nova University, 4-0, and Florida Atlantic, 7-1, in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Twellman, who had scored just once in 14 U-20 games, got one goal against Nova and two against Florida Atlantic. Albright, who last summer scored 11 goals in 12 games — including four in three qualifiers — but had tallied just twice since, netted a second-half hat trick in the second game. “[It’s important to] make sure we’re focused and prepared, but not nervous,” Schmid said. “I think we are getting to that point. I don’t sense any nervousness. We want to welcome the challenge; we want to look on the World Cup as a tremendous gift, a tremendous opportunity.” THE AMERICAN FOES England (April 5 at Kano): One of soccer’s biggest names — Michael Owen — is part of this English team, but he won’t be anywhere near Nigeria. And the country’s other top youngsters — the Gareth Berrys and Wes Browns and Alan Smiths — won’t there, either, leaving Chris Ramsey, formerly of the USISL Cocoa Expos and now England’s first black national team coach, with a less-than-ideal team. Japan (April 8 at Bauchi): Heartthrob Shinji Ono’s admirers believe he may be the best player Japan has produced. He’s the heart of this team, runner-up to South Korea at last year’s Asian U-19 Championship, guiding a high-energy attack that averaged three goals a game in the tournament. Cameroon (April 11 at Bauchi): The Lionceaux are an athletic, skillful bunch capable of great things, as it demonstrated at the African Youth Championship. Cameroon tied champ Ghana, played runner-up Nigeria tight and finished third by beating Zambia. To be feared: forwards Francis Kioyo and Blaise Mamoun and midfielder Modeste Mbami. By Soccer America Senior Editor Scott French