U. S. Soccer’s U-20 MNT Call Up includes Two Minnesotans

Cody Cropper

U. S. Soccer announced today the roster for the U-20 Men’s National Team that will play in the Torneo de las Americas in Kennesaw, Ga. in late November. Coach Thomas Rongen has announced 18 of the 20 players who will attend the tournament. The U.S. will face Colombia on Nov. 26 and Mexico on Nov. 28 in the three-team round robin tournament held at the Kennesaw State Soccer Stadium.

Seven players from MLS will be joining the American team in Georgia, including Juan Agudelo, who recently started both games in the New York Red Bulls playoff series against the San Jose Earthquakes. Tristan Bowen will also be making his first trip to a U.S. camp since November 2008, when he traveled with the U-20 MNT to Spain. Should the Los Angeles Galaxy advance to the MLS Cup final, Bowen will join the team in Georgia immediately following that game on Nov. 20.

Midfielder Amobi Okugo, who made 11 appearances for the Philadelphia Union this season as a rookie, is also on the roster.

Also, from the MLS will be Minnesotan Fuad Ibrahim of Toronto FC who is from Richfield, MN.

18-year-old Minnesotan Cody Cropper from Ipswich Town FC will be one of two goalkeepers included in the roster. Cropper is now listed as being from Athens, Georgia which is where his father resides. Cropper lived in Maple Grove, MN in his late grade school and teenage years. Cropper’s mother recently moved  from Maple Grove to the D.C. area.

Cropper will share goalkeeping duties with Eduardo Fernandez (Real Salt Lake AZ; Casa Grande, Ariz.).

Leagues in seven different countries will be represented on the U.S. team in Kennesaw, including two domestic leagues. Two players from Portugal, Gale Agbossoumonde and Greg Garza, two from England in Cody Cropper and Sebastian Lletget, and one each from Croatia (Alex Molano), Mexico (Moises Orozco), Germany (Parker Walsh), and Israel (Alex Zahavi) join the domestic-based group.

Roster By Position
GOALKEEPERS (2): Cody Cropper (Ipswich Town; Athens, Ga.), Eduardo Fernandez (Real Salt Lake AZ; Casa Grande, Ariz.)
DEFENDERS (7): Gale Agbossoumonde (G.D. Estoril Praia; Syracuse, N.Y.), Bryan De La Fuente (Chivas USA; Bell, Calif.), Greg Garza (G.D. Estoril Praia; Grapevine, Texas), Korey Veeder (Crystal Palace Baltimore; St. Petersburg, Fla.), Parker Walsh (Karlsruher SC; Roanoke, Va.)
MIDFIELDERS (5): Sebastian Lletget (West Ham United; San Francisco, Calif.), Alex Molano (NK Dinamo Zagreb; Grapevine, Texas), Amobi Okugo (Philadelphia Union; Sacramento, Calif.), Moises Orozco (Tigres; Oxnard, Calif.), Conor Shanosky (D.C. United, Sterling, Va.), Alex Zahavi (Maccabi Haifa F.C.; Lisbon, Portugal), Cesar Zamora (Chivas USA; Sylmar, Calif.)
FORWARDS (4): Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls; Barnegat, N.Y.), Tristan Bowen (Los Angeles Galaxy; Van Nuys, Calif.), Fuad Ibrahim (Toronto FC; Richfield, Minn.), Omar Salgado (Unattached; El Paso, Texas)