U.S. U-20 MNT begins new cycle at Stevan Vilotic Tournament in Serbia
CHICAGO (Via U.S. Soccer) – U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team head coach Tab Ramos has named a 23-player roster that will represent the United States at the 2015 Stevan Vilotic-Cele Tournament in Serbia.
The group will begin training on Aug. 30 in Subotica and begin tournament play against Serbia on Sept. 3, before traveling to Senta for a match against France on Sept. 4. The team will conclude the tournament with a placement match on Sept. 7.
“We’re giving a bunch of players an opportunity here to make an impression in the beginning, and I’m excited to be starting a new cycle that will hopefully end in the World Cup in South Korea in 2017,” Ramos said. “We’re taking 23 players in this camp, and the main reason for that is that we have back-to-back games. We play Serbia on Sept. 3 and we play France on Sept. 4, so those will be two completely different lineups and everybody will be able to get on the field and show themselves and show themselves against excellent competition.”
The Stevan Vilotic-Cele Tournament is the first test of a new U-20 cycle for the U.S. All 23 players from this group were born in 1997, although Erik Palmer-Brown has experience in this age group as he was a part of the 2015 U-20 MNT World Cup team. Thirteen other players participated in MNT camps with the U-18 team earlier this year.
Fourteen players from this roster represent clubs in Major League soccer, while five play in college, and the English Premier League, Bundesliga, USL and U.S. Soccer Development Academy each have single representatives on the squad.
Roster by Position:
GOALKEEPERS (2) : Christian Herrera (Real Monarchs; Las Cruces, N.M.), Justin Vom Steeg (Santa Barbara; Santa Barbara, Calif.)
DEFENDERS (8): Kyle Duncan (New York Red Bulls; Brooklyn, N.Y.), Justen Glad (Real Salt Lake; Tucson, Ariz.), Nicholas Hinds (Seattle Sounders FC; Seattle, Wash.), Andrew Lombard (Northeastern; Montclair, N.J.), Christian Onalfo (LA Galaxy; Redondo Beach, Calif.), Erik Palmer-Brown (Sporting KC; Lee’s Summit, Mo.), Pablo Pelaez (Seattle Sounders FC; San Diego, Calif.), Mauricio Pineda (Chicago Fire; Bolingbrook, Ill.),
MIDFIELDERS (8): Amir Bashti (Stanford; Cupertino, Calif.), Collin Fernandez ( Chicago Fire, Downers Grove, Ill.), Cameron Lindley (Chicago Fire; Carmel, Ind.), Abuchi Obinwa (Hannover 96; Orlando, Fla.), Emmanuel Sabbi (Chicago Magic PSG; Libertyville, Ill.), Martin Salas (North Carolina; Dallas, Texas), Kyle Scott (Chelsea; Winterbourne, Bristol), Ben Swanson (Columbus Crew SC; Grove City, Ohio)
FORWARDS (5): Coy Craft (FC Dallas; Frisco, Texas), Christian Lucatero (Houston Dynamo; Pasadena, Texas), Victor Mansaray (Seattle Sounders FC; Des Moines, Wash.), Nebojsa Popovic (Saint Louis FC; Loznica, Serbia), Sebastian Saucedo (Real Salt Lake; Casa Grande, Ariz.)
