United States men's national under-23 soccer team

The United States U-23 men's national soccer team, also known as the United States men's Olympic soccer team, is a youth soccer team operated under the auspices of U.S. Soccer. Its primary role is qualification into and competition at the quadriennial Olympic Football Tournament, the next of which is to be held during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England. The team's most recent major tournament was the tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics, in which the United States team was eliminated in the first round group stage.

The roster can be augmented with three "overage" players, ostensibly possessing veteran experience, during Olympic competition, in accordance with FIFA regulations.

History

Men's Olympic soccer as an under-23 competition officially began during the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. A win over Kuwait was not enough for qualification past the group stage, and, as expected, a loss to Italy and a draw with Poland eliminated the United States in the first round. Several US players on the roster, however, would go on to have a major influence with the United States men's national soccer team in the 1994 FIFA World Cup, which the United States would host.

The 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia would be the first time that teams could add overage players to their rosters. With the advantage as the host nation, and with Major League Soccer in the middle of its inaugural season, the USSF tapped then-D.C. United head coach Bruce Arena to manage the Olympic team. They would fall short again, however, as a loss to eventual-silver medalists Argentina, offset favorable results in a win against Tunisia and a draw with Portugal.

The 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia marked a significant turnaround in the fortunes of the team. This time, the United States, led by head coach Clive Charles, won their group on goal difference, based on draws with Czech Republic and eventual-gold medalists Cameroon, and a win over Kuwait. A tense quarterfinal match against Japan ended in a penalty shoot-out, which the United States won. Losses to Spain in the semifinals and Chile in the bronze medal match fell short of rising expectations, but a fourth-place finish in a sixteen-team tournament led to the national youth team's greatest result at the Olympics.

The team did not compete at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece; the United States, led by head coach Glenn Myernick, would lose to Mexico in the semifinals of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament.

In late 2006, former Chivas USA head coach Bob Bradley was given the reins to both the senior national team and under-23 national team. His tenure would be brief, and his elevation to full-time head coach of the senior team would result in him handing control of the under-23 team to his assistant head coach, Piotr Nowak. Under Nowak, the United States qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics after a 3-0 win over Canada in the 2008 CONCACAF Men's Pre-Olympic Tournament, thanks to goals by Freddy Adu and Sacha Kljestan. They would end their tournament as runners-up to Honduras but with an Olympic berth in hand.

Schedule

See also: Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's tournament and 2008 CONCACAF Men's Pre-Olympic Tournament

According to an article at tropigol.com, CONCACAF Olympic qualifying will be held at yet-to-be announced site in the United States in March. Usually, the top assistant coach of the U.S. National Team handles the Under-23 team during qualifying and the Olympics, later however, another article posted at tropigol.com stated that Martin Vasquez, who is currently the Assistant Coach for the United States mens national soccer team, would not take charge of the Under-23 team, Caleb Porter, who currently coaches for Akron University, was named head coach of the U-23, however, he did not travel with the team to Germany because of other duties he had with his current team.

Jurgen Klinsmann said in the article that, “This is a unique opportunity for the younger group to learn and to experience an internationally, high profile competition and we don’t have that many of them. So, we are very, very high on that topic. There will be a workshop after our game against Ecuador just about that topic. We hopefully can get the coaching staff being named as soon as possible and get our heads around that, that special group of kids. If you go through the player list that could possibly play in the Olympics in London, this is a very good team on paper. So we better start that process, the sooner the better.” A rumor appeared, according to BigSoccer.com, that the possible friendlies could be against the France national football team or the likes of the Slovenia national football team during the November friendlies, instead, these friendlies were sechdueled for the United States Senior Squad, no friendlies are currently set for this camp, another rumored appeared that there would be 4 friendlies during the training camps. Jurgen Klinsmann named his 22-man roster for the international fixtures in which are against France and Slovenia, about one-third of the roster included some of the U-23's, including Timothy Chandler, Jozy Altidore, Alfredo Morales, Bill Hamid, Brek Shea and Daniel Williams.

U-23/U-20 Scrimmages

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November 11, 2011 Time: 11:00am	VFL Bochum	1 – 3	United States	Duisburg, Germany Attendance: 200 Referee: -
	Dabrowski  20'		Boyd  42' Taylor  81' Duka  83'

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November 11, 2011 Time: 03:00pm	United States	0 – 0	Azerbaijan	Duisburg, Germany Attendance: - Referee: -

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November 15, 2011 Time: 02:30pm	Bayer Leverkusen U–23	1 – 1	United States	Duisburg, Germany Attendance: - Referee: -
			Boyd  78'

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November 15, 2011 Time: 05:00pm	Bayer Leverkusen U–19	3 – 0	United States	Duisburg, Germany Attendance: - Referee: -

U-23 Scrimmages

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November 15, 2011 Time: 05:00pm	United States	4 – 0	United States	Carson, California Attendance: - Referee: -

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November 15, 2011 Time: 05:00pm	United States	1 – 1	United States	Carson, California Attendance: - Referee: -

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January 21, 2012 Time: 05:00pm	Saprissa Reserves	0 – 0	United States	Saprissa, Costa Rica Attendance: - Referee: -

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January 24, 2012 Time: 05:00pm	Alajueluense	0 – 1	United States	Alajueluense, Costa Rica Attendance: - Referee: -
			Taylor  41'

Players

Current squad

The following 23 players were named to the roster for the team's training camp at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA from Jan 8-18. The second leg of the training camp in San José, Costa Rica, includes a pair of scrimmages as the team will face Saprissa reserves on Saturday, Jan. 21, and Alajueluense on Tuesday, Jan. 24.

No. Pos. Player DoB/Age Caps Club 1GK Matt Lampson September 6, 1989 (1989-09-06) Columbus Crew 1GK Zac MacMath July 8, 1990 (1990-07-08) Philadelphia Union 1GK Brian Perk July 21, 1989 (1989-07-21) Los Angeles Galaxy 2DF Royal-Dominique Fennell June 5, 1989 (1989-06-05) Stuttgarter Kickers 2DF Sebastien Ibeagha March 28, 1992 (1992-03-28) Duke University 2DF Kofi Sarkodie March 22, 1991 (1991-03-22) Houston Dynamo 2DF Zarek Valentin August 6, 1991 (1991-08-06) Montreal Impact 2DF Jorge Villafaña September 16, 1989 (1989-09-16) Chivas USA 2DF Andrew Wenger December 25, 1990 (1990-12-25) Montreal Impact 2DF Matt Wiet September 23, 1990 (1990-09-23) UCLA 2DF Sheanon Williams March 17, 1990 (1990-03-17) Philadelphia Union 3MF Isaac Acuña August 18, 1989 (1989-08-18) Mérida 3MF Joe Corona July 9, 1990 (1990-07-09) Club Tijuana 3MF Mikkel Diskerud October 2, 1990 (1990-10-02) 2 Stabæk 3MF Dilly Duka September 15, 1989 (1989-09-15) Columbus Crew 3MF Jared Jeffrey June 14, 1990 (1990-06-14) Mainz 3MF Sebastian Lletget September 3, 1992 (1992-09-03) West Ham United 3MF Amobi Okugo March 13, 1991 (1991-03-13) Philadelphia Union 3MF Kelyn Rowe December 2, 1991 (1991-12-02) New England Revolution 3MF Michael Stephens April 3, 1989 (1989-04-03) Los Angeles Galaxy 4FW Freddy Adu June 2, 1989 (1989-06-02) 17 Philadelphia Union 4FW Josh Gatt August 29, 1991 (1991-08-29) Molde 4FW Jack McInerney August 5, 1992 (1992-08-05) Philadelphia Union 4FW Tony Taylor July 13, 1989 (1989-07-13) Estoril

Other Players Called This Cycle

No. Pos. Player DoB/Age Caps Club 1GK David Bingham October 19, 1989 (1989-10-19) San Jose Earthquakes 1GK Cody Cropper February 16, 1993 (1993-02-16) Ipswich Town 1GK Bill Hamid November 25, 1990 (1990-11-25) DC United 1GK Jon Kempin April 8, 1993 (1993-04-08) Sporting Kansas City 1GK Sean Johnson May 31, 1989 (1989-05-31) 1 Chicago Fire 2DF Gale Agbossoumonde November 17, 1991 (1991-11-17) 1 Eintracht Frankfurt 2DF John Anthony Brooks January 28, 1993 (1993-01-28) Hertha BSC 2DF Sean Cunningham January 24, 1993 (1993-01-24) Molde 2DF Greg Garza August 16, 1991 (1991-08-16) Club Tijuana 2DF Perry Kitchen February 29, 1992 (1992-02-29) DC United 2DF Will Packwood May 21, 1993 (1993-05-21) Birmingham City 2DF Ethan White January 1, 1991 (1991-01-01) DC United 3MF Bryan Arguez January 13, 1989 (1989-01-13) Montreal Impact 3MF Danny Cruz January 3, 1990 (1990-01-03) DC United 3MF Luis Gil November 14, 1993 (1993-11-14) Real Salt Lake 3MF Tyrone McCargo September 18, 1993 (1993-09-18) Nürnberg 3MF Victor Pineda March 15, 1993 (1993-03-15) Chicago Fire 3MF Charles Renken December 19, 1993 (1993-12-19) Hoffenheim 3MF Caleb Stanko July 26, 1993 (1993-07-26) Freiburg 3MF Jose Villarreal September 10, 1993 (1993-09-10) Los Angeles Galaxy 4FW Juan Agudelo November 23, 1992 (1992-11-23) 15 New York Red Bulls 4FW Terrence Boyd February 16, 1991 (1991-02-16) Borussia Dortmund 4FW Will Bruin October 24, 1989 (1989-10-24) Houston Dynamo 4FW Teal Bunbury February 27, 1990 (1990-02-27) 2 Sporting Kansas City 4FW Conor Doyle October 13, 1991 (1991-10-13) Derby County 4FW Jann George July 31, 1992 (1992-07-31) Nürnberg 4FW Joseph Gyau September 16, 1992 (1992-09-16) Hoffenheim 4FW Jerome Kiesewetter February 9, 1993 (1993-02-09) Hertha Berlin 4FW Omar Salgado September 10, 1993 (1993-09-10) Vancouver Whitecaps 4FW Bobby Wood November 15, 1992 (1992-11-15) 1860 Munich 4FW Andrew Wooten September 30, 1989 (1989-09-30) Kaiserslautern

Also eligible for 2012 Summer Olympics

Players born after January 1, 1989 are eligible to play in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. In addition, teams may select three overage players for the final roster. (See: http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/competition/01/33/73/30/regulationsoft2012_update10.15.10_e.pdf)

No. Pos. Player DoB/Age Caps Club 1GK Samir Badr April 2, 1992 (1992-04-02) Haras El-Hodood 1GK Joe Bendik April 25, 1989 (1989-04-25) Sogndal 1GK Josh Lambo November 19, 1990 (1990-11-19) FC Dallas 1GK Bryan Meredith August 2, 1989 (1989-08-02) Seattle Sounders 1GK Kevin Piedrahita June 18, 1991 (1991-06-18) América de Cali 1GK Brian Sylvestre December 19, 1992 (1992-12-19) Vancouver Whitecaps 2DF Rich Balchan January 18, 1989 (1989-01-18) Columbus Crew 2DF Shawn Barry April 23, 1990 (1990-04-23) LASK Linz 2DF Timothy Chandler March 29, 1990 (1990-03-29) 6 Nürnberg 2DF Kyle Davies April 11, 1989 (1989-04-11) Unattached 2DF Bryan de la Fuente July 1, 1992 (1992-07-01) Club Tijuana 2DF Kevin Ellis June 30, 1991 (1991-06-30) Sporting Kansas City 2DF Moises Hernandez March 5, 1992 (1992-03-05) FC Dallas 2DF Šaćir Hot June 10, 1991 (1991-06-10) New York Red Bulls 2DF Aaron Maund September 19, 1990 (1990-09-19) Toronto FC 2DF Alfredo Morales May 12, 1990 (1990-05-12) Hertha Berlin 2DF Ike Opara February 21, 1989 (1989-02-21) San Jose Earthquakes 2DF Tyler Polak May 13, 1992 (1992-05-13) New England Revolution 2DF Chris Taylor May 12, 1989 (1989-05-12) Portland Timbers 2DF Ryan Thomas March 20, 1989 (1989-03-20) Los Angeles Galaxy 2DF Korey Veeder March 28, 1991 (1991-03-28) Columbus Crew 2DF Anthony Wallace January 26, 1989 (1989-01-26) 1 Colorado Rapids 2DF Parker Walsh October 30, 1991 (1991-10-30) Karlsruhe 3MF Davy Armstrong November 3, 1991 (1991-11-03) Colorado Rapids 3MF Danny Barrera January 8, 1990 (1990-01-08) FK Spartak Zlatibor Voda 3MF Diego Chávarri March 7, 1989 (1989-03-07) Sporting Cristal 3MF Blair Gavin January 8, 1989 (1989-01-08) Chivas USA 3MF Cole Grossman April 10, 1989 (1989-04-10) Columbus Crew 3MF Fabian Hürzeler February 26, 1993 (1993-02-26) Bayern Munich 3MF Matt Kassel October 30, 1989 (1989-10-30) New York Red Bulls 3MF Ryan Kinne August 31, 1989 (1989-08-31) New England Revolution 3MF Morgan Langley July 9, 1989 (1989-07-09) Philadelphia Union 3MF Nico Muniz October 18, 1992 (1992-10-18) Real Salt Lake 3MF Alex Nimo March 21, 1990 (1990-03-21) Unattached 3MF Ernest Nungaray May 7, 1992 (1992-05-07) Monarcas Morelia 3MF Moises Orozco February 6, 1992 (1992-02-06) UANL 3MF Brian Ownby July 16, 1990 (1990-07-16) Unattached 3MF Dillon Powers February 14, 1991 (1991-02-14) University of Notre Dame 3MF Ryan Richter April 12, 1989 (1989-04-12) Philadelphia Union 3MF Conor Shanosky December 13, 1991 (1991-12-13) DC United 3MF Brek Shea February 28, 1990 (1990-02-28) 7 FC Dallas 3MF Josue Soto January 3, 1989 (1989-01-03) Houston Dynamo 3MF Victor Ulloa March 4, 1992 (1992-03-04) FC Dallas 3MF Daniel Williams March 8, 1989 (1989-03-08) 2 Hoffenheim 3MF Devann Yao May 4, 1990 (1990-05-04) RBD Borinage 4FW Chris Agorsor January 9, 1990 (1990-01-09) Real Salt Lake 4FW Jozy Altidore November 6, 1989 (1989-11-06) 43 AZ Alkmaar 4FW Eder Arreola November 13, 1991 (1991-11-13) Houston Dynamo 4FW Villyan Bijev January 3, 1993 (1993-01-03) Fortuna Düsseldorf 4FW Tristan Bowen January 30, 1991 (1991-01-30) KSV Roeselare 4FW Blake Brettschneider April 11, 1989 (1989-04-11) DC United 4FW Danijal Brkovic June 3, 1991 (1991-06-03) FK Velež Mostar 4FW Dzenan Catic May 25, 1992 (1992-05-25) Kaiserslautern 4FW Lester Dewee August 10, 1992 (1992-08-10) Ängelholm 4FW Alex Dixon February 7, 1990 (1990-02-07) Houston Dynamo 4FW Corey Hertzog August 1, 1990 (1990-08-01) New York Red Bulls 4FW Aaron Horton May 19, 1992 (1992-05-19) Columbus Crew 4FW Fuad Ibrahim August 15, 1991 (1991-08-15) Unattached 4FW Stefan Jerome August 11, 1992 (1992-08-11) Sigma Olomouc 4FW Peri Marošević May 5, 1989 (1989-05-05) Toronto FC 4FW Ellis McLoughlin August 1, 1990 (1990-08-01) San Jose Earthquakes 4FW Samuel Petrone July 6, 1989 (1989-07-06) Mjällby 4FW Adrián Ruelas March 18, 1991 (1991-03-18) Jaguares 4FW Soony Saad August 17, 1992 (1992-08-17) Sporting Kansas City 4FW Brian Span February 23, 1992 (1992-02-23) Djurgården 4FW Ben Speas January 17, 1991 (1991-01-17) Columbus Crew 4FW Donny Toia May 28, 1992 (1992-05-28) Real Salt Lake 4FW Jonathan Top January 26, 1993 (1993-01-26) FC Dallas 4FW Andrew Wiedeman August 22, 1989 (1989-08-22) FC Dallas

Coaches

• 1988–1992: Lothar Osiander
• 1994-1995: Timo Liekoski
• 1995–1996: Bruce Arena
• 1996–2003: Clive Charles
• 2003–2004: Glenn Myernick
• 2006–2007: Bob Bradley
• 2007–2009: Piotr Nowak
• 2011-: Caleb Porter

See also

• United States Soccer Federation
• United States men's national soccer team
• Football at the Summer Olympics

External links

• U-23 MNT official homepage at United States Soccer Federation