Concacaf U-20 Championship (Feb 17th - March)

CONCACAF U-20 Championship 2017 

(Costa Rica)

The venues will be the historic Saprissa stadium and the National Stadium in San Jose.

            Ok the next tournament for the USA is the U-20 Championship that will take place in February and March of 2017. The USA needs to place in one of the top 3 in this tournament to qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup. The World Cup is May 20^th to June and is hosted by South Korea. For tournament details check here

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_CONCACAF_U-20_Championship#Classification_stage

Costa Rica National Stadium (35,175)

This tournament has been dominated by Mexico. They have won 13 of the 20 tournaments. Canada, Costa Rica and Honduras each won 2. El Salvador is your other winner. Thats right, the USA has not won this championship at this age and they don’t seem to take it serious. The USA has qualified for the last 9 World Cups and that seems to be their goal…just to qualify. I am hoping this group of coaches (Tab Ramos) and the young group of kids play "for" the Championship.

 Group Stage 

Saprissa Stadium (23,000 capacity)

This year our young stars are grouped with Panama, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Haiti. All the states have to do is beat out 2 of these 3 teams which they are favorite to do. The important (qualifying games) is the next round.

Round 2 will be 2 groups of 3 and each team will play 2 games. The top 2 teams qualify directly to the FIFA U-20 World Cup. The other 2 teams will be seeded. While the 2^nd place team will play the 3^rd of the other group and vice versa. Then the 2 winners will play for 3^rd place and the vital last CONCACAF spot in the World Cup.

It will be Tab Ramos who will guide this young hungry group. Each tournament we are seeing more players from MLS academy teams. 

USA Roster.

Roster by Position:
GOALKEEPERS (2): Jonathan Klinsmann (University of California; Newport Beach, CA), JT Marcinkowski (Georgetown; Alamo, CA)

DEFENDERS (7): Marcello Borges (Michigan; Kearny, NJ), Justen Glad (Real Salt Lake; Tucson, AZ), Aaron Hererra (New Mexico; Casa Grande, AZ), Jake Morris (Seattle Sounders FC; Fort Lauderdale, FL), Tommy Redding (Orlando City SC; Oviedo, FL), Miles Robinson (Syracuse; Arlington, MA), Auston Trusty (Philadelphia Union; Chester, PA)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Danny Acosta (Real Salt Lake; Salt Lake City, UT), Tyler Adams (New York Red Bulls II; Wappingers Falls, NY), Derrick Jones (Philadelphia Union; Chester, PA), Sebastian Saucedo (Real Salt Lake; Park City, UT), Nick Taitague (FC Richmond; Midlothian, VA), Eryk Williamson (Maryland; Alexandria, VA)

FORWARDS (5): Jeremy Ebobisse (Charleston Battery; Bethesda, MD), Jonathan Lewis (Akron; Plantation, FL), Victor Mansaray (Seattle Sounders FC; Des Moines, WA), Emmanuel Sabbi (UD Las Palmas; Libertyville, IL), Brandon Vazquez (Atlanta United FC; Chula Vista, CA)

Yes, that’s right Klinsmann’s son is the goalie.