LA Galaxy Homegrown forward Jose Villarreal and Academy product Javan Torre have been named to U.S. Under-20 national team head coach Tab Ramos' 18-man squad for the 2013 CONCACAF U-20 Championship in Puebla, Mexico.
Villarreal is one of 11 professional players on the roster, five of which ply their trade in MLS. Meanwhile, Torre, who is recently finished his freshman season at UCLA is one of five players still enrolled in college. Also on the roster is former Galaxy Academy star Mario Rodriguez, who is currently with 1. FC Kaiserslautern in Germany.
The U.S. find themselves in Group A with Costa Rica and Haiti and open the tournament against the Caribbean nation on Feb. 18. The top four teams from the tournament, which runs Feb. 18 to March 3 will advance to the U-20 World Cup in Turkey later this year.This U.S. team is loaded with expectation after the highly-touted 2011 group failed to qualify for the U-20 World Cup after falling to Guatemala in the Semifinal round.
The complete roster is below...
GOALKEEPERS (3) : Cody Cropper (Southampton FC; Maple Grove, Minn.), Kendall McIntosh (Santa Clara; Santa Rosa, Calif.), Zackary Steffen (FC DELCO Academy; Downington, Pa.)
DEFENDERS (5) : Eric Miller (Creighton; Woodbury, Minn.), Juan Pablo Ocegueda (C.D. Guadalajara; Riverside, Calif.), Boyd Okwuonu (North Carolina; Edmund, Okla.), Shane O’Neill (Colorado Rapids; Boulder, Colo.), Javan Torre (UCLA; Santa Monica, Calif.)
MIDFIELDERS (5) : Luis Gil (Real Salt Lake; Garden Grove, Calif.), Benji Joya (Santos Laguna; San Jose, Calif.), Mikey Lopez (Sporting Kansas City; Mission, Texas), Caleb Stanko (SC Freiburg; Holly, Mich.), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew; Gahanna, Ohio)
FORWARDS (5) : Brandon Allen (Georgetown; Old Bridge, N.J.), Daniel Cuevas (Santos Laguna; Sacramento, Calif.), Daniel Garcia (North Carolina; Dallas, Texas), Mario Rodriguez (1. FC Kaiserslautern; North Hollywood, Calif.) Jose Villarreal (LA Galaxy; Inglewood, Calif.)
