2007 FIFA World Youth Championship - US U-20

The first camp bringing the best and brightest American kids, born after Jan. 1, 1987, together to train for the 2007 FIFA World Youth Championship has been announced. Thomas Rongen, who played in the defunct North American Soccer League in the late 1970's will take the reigns as the head coach. He's done this before and he led the 2002-2004 U-20 team to a quarterfinal finish in the 2003 version of this tournament in the United Arab Emirates. Rongen has a lot of experience with both the Youth National teams as well as MLS coaching. He won the MLS title with DC United and coached three other teams in addition to United.

Rongen's 2003 squad includes some big MLS names including Freddy Adu, Justin Mapp, Chad Marshall, Eddie Johnson, Richardo Clark, Santino Quaranta, Mike Magee, Clint Dempsey, Drew Moor, Knox Cameron, Ned Gravaboy and Jordan Harvey. One interesting point to look at is the fact Eddie Johnson is now one of the highest paid players in MLS and is entering his fifth season. However, Jordan Harvey was just drafted in the 2006 MLS draft by the Colorado Rapids. So obviously, these young athletes are going to take different lengths to develop into professional players. Johnson did it in a professional environment with the Dallas Burn and Harvey did it at UCLA. Harvey is clearly going to be playing catch up if he wants to make a career in the big leagues.

The 2003 squad also featured young Americans who are now playing in Europe. Zak Whitbred is a product of the Liverpool youth system and is trying to break into the first team. Bobby Convey joined MLS at age sixteen and is now staring at English club Reading. Convey's success at Reading has him in a good spot to snag a World Cup spot and has helped Reading to the top of the second division of English soccer. Next season Convey should be with the big boys in the Premier League.

So now to the current roster joining Rongen in Florida this week. There is a mix of high school, college and one professional player in this group. The US Residency program contributed the most high school players. The players school will be in parentheses. High school players either list the residency program or the player's home town.

GOALKEEPERS (3): Kevin Guppy (Cal State Northridge), Mike Gustavson (South Carolina), Steve Sandbo (SMU)

DEFENDERS (9): Trevor Banks (Old Dominion Univ.), Chris Clements (Tulsa), Gregory Folk (UCLA), Daniel Kelly (Hendersonville, Tenn.), Eric Lichaj (Downers Grove, Ill.), Chance Myers (Thousand Oaks, Calif.), Ofori Sarkodie (Indiana), Neven Subotic (USF), Anthony Wallace (St. Petersburg, Fla.)

MIDFIELDERS (7): Eric Avila (UCSB), Carlos Diaz (Napa Valley, Calif.), Sonny Guadarrama (Campbell University), Jeremy Hall (Tampa, Fla.), Daniel Lopez (SMU), Robbie Rodgers (Maryland), Matthew Tutich (Akron)

FORWARDS (4): Andre Akpan (Grand Prairie, Texas), Josmer Altidore (MetroStars), Bill Dworsky (Huntsville, Ala.), Jordan Seabrook (USF)

Josmer is highlighted above because he is the only pro in the group. He was drafted by New York and his name is often whispered in the same breath as Freddy Adu, so he's one to watch.

The experiences these kids have learning under Rongen will be invaluable. This kind of experience is what sets future professionals apart from college kids playing soccer. MLS and other leagues will see 2006 U-20 on their resumes and it will speak volumes about how these guys play the game. It will be exciting to see who on this list makes the squad for the qualifying that should take place in a CONCACAF tournament this summer. Assuming the Americans qualify, the tournament is being hosted in Canada in 2007.