University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Three Bruins Make U.S. Roster For CONCACAF Under-20 Championships
March 17, 2011
Current UCLA players Eder Arreola and Kelyn Rowe and UCLA alumnus Amobi Okugo were selected by U.S. Under-20 Men's National Team head coach Thomas Rongen to the 20-man roster for the 2011 CONCACAF U-20 Championships. The group will travel to Dallas on March 20 for a week of training before the CONCACAF tournament begins in Guatemala City, Guatemala on Mar. 29.
The U.S. team has been drawn into Group B of the CONCACAF tournament and will face Suriname on Mar. 29 at 5 pm PT and Panama on Apr. 2 at 3 pm PT. Both games will be televised on ESPN Deportes and ESPN3.
The top two teams in each group will advance to the tournament quarterfinals, and the four quarterfinal winners will earn a berth to the FIFA U-20 World Cup, which is scheduled for July 29-Aug. 20 in Colombia. The U.S. is seeking its eighth consecutive U-20 World Cup berth.
Arreola and Rowe are two of four college players on the roster, and Rowe is one of nine alumni of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy.
Arreola had his finest collegiate season in 2010, scoring four goals and seven assists to rank third on the squad in scoring with 15 points. He had two of his four goals in the NCAA Tournament, including the game-winner with eight seconds left in the second overtime against Dartmouth in the third round. The Bruin junior earned second-team All-Pac-10 honors.
Rowe was UCLA's leading assist man in his freshman campaign, totaling 10 assists and seven goals, three of the game-winning variety. Rowe earned third-team NSCAA All-America honors, was named to Soccer America's All-Freshman first-team, and was voted the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year in 2010.
Okugo, who is in his second year with the Philadelphia Union, played for UCLA in 2009 and was the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year. One of eight MLS players on the U-20 CONCACAF roster, he is making his second consecutive appearance on the squad, having helped the U.S. qualify for the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
In other U.S. National Team news, three UCLA alumni were named to the U.S. Men's National Team roster for a pair of international friendlies this month. Carlos Bocanegra (1997-99), Jonathan Bornstein (2004-05) and Benny Feilhaber (2003-04) will train with the U.S. team in Cary, NC before facing Argentina at New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey and Paraguay at LP Field in Nashville. The U.S.-Argentina game will be broadcast live on ESPN2 and Univision on Mar. 26 at 4 pm PT, and the U.S.-Paraguay game will air on Fox Soccer Channel and Telefutura on Mar. 29 at 5 pm PT.
U.S. Under-20 MNT Roster - CONCACAF U-20 Championships
GOALKEEPERS (2): Zac MacMath (Philadelphia Union; St. Petersburg, Fla.), Cody Cropper (Ipswich Town; Athens, Ga.)
DEFENDERS (8): Gale Agbossoumonde (Djurgårdens IF; Syracuse, N.Y.), Greg Garza (G.D. Estoril Praia; Grapevine, Texas), Moises Hernandez (FC Dallas; Dallas, Texas), Sacir Hot (New York Red Bulls; Fair Lawn, N.J.), Sebastien Ibeagha (Duke; Missouri City, Texas), Perry Kitchen (D.C. United; Indianapolis, Ind.), Zarek Valentin (Chivas USA; Lancaster, Pa.), Korey Veeder (Columbus Crew; St. Petersburg, Fla.)
MIDFIELDERS (5): Sebastian Lletget (West Ham United; San Francisco, Calif.), Amobi Okugo (Philadelphia Union; Sacramento, Calif.), Moises Orozco (UANL Tigres; Oxnard, Calif.), Dillon Powers (Notre Dame; Plano, Texas), Kelyn Rowe (UCLA; Federal Way, Wash.)
FORWARDS (5): Eder Arreola (UCLA; Chino Hills, Calif.), Conor Doyle (Derby County FC; McKinney, Texas), Joe Gyau (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim; Silver Spring, Md.), Omar Salgado (Vancouver Whitecaps FC; El Paso, Texas), Bobby Wood (TSV 1860 München; Irvine, Calif.)
U.S. Men's National Team Roster - Argentina/Paraguay Friendlies
GOALKEEPERS (3): Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Tim Howard (Everton), David Yelldell (MSV Duisburg)
DEFENDERS (9): Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Etienne), Jonathan Bornstein (UANL Tigres), Timothy Chandler (FC Nürnberg), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Vancouver Whitecaps), Oguchi Onyewu (FC Twente), Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United), Zak Whitbread (Norwich City)
MIDFIELDERS (9): Michael Bradley (Aston Villa), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Mikkel Diskeruud (Stabaek), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus), Stuart Holden (Bolton Wanderers), Jermaine Jones (Blackburn Rovers), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht)
FORWARDS (3): Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Jozy Altidore (Bursaspor), Edson Buddle (FC Ingolstadt)