Cody Cropper Called into January U-20 Men’s National Team Camp

Minnesota’s Cody Cropper has been called into a 12-day training camp for the U-20′s that will be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida from January 2-13.

Head coach Thomas Rongen has pulled in 25 of the strongest eligible players available to the team. With many of the players coming from professional clubs it has the potential to be one of the stronger youth teams the US has produced. The camp will mark the beginning of an important year as the US prepares for the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup which will be held in Colombia from July 29-August 20th.

Included in the roster are 7 college players along with 6 MLS players and 12 players who are foreign-based in England, Germany, Israel, Portugal and Mexico.

Cropper, who turns 18 in February, received a call up around Thanksgiving but then seemed to be a no show on the final roster. Cropper’s father Joe explained that Ipswich Town had originally agreed to release Cropper for the U-20 camp but an FA Cup game was scheduled for the Ipswich Town youth team which the club wanted Cropper to play in.

“US Soccer and Coach Rongen were very understanding,” said Joe Cropper. “They knew it was important. The game was on Thursday and the US didn’t play until Sunday. He was still willing to make the trip but the club and Coach Rongen felt it was too much travel for Cody and decided against it.”

Cropper is on holiday break from Ipswich and is currently visiting in Minnesota.

According to Soccer by Ives, New York Red Bulls forward Juan Agudelo, the youngest US player to score a goal for the senior team at 18, will be with the camp until the 6th in which he will then join the senior team in Carson, Ca.

U.S. U-20 MNT Roster by Position:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Cody Cropper (Ipswich Town; Athens, Ga.), Zac MacMath (Maryland; St. Petersburg, Fla.), Brian Sylvestre (Vancouver Whitecaps FC; Hollywood, Fla.)

DEFENDERS (9): Gale Agbossoumonde (GD Estoril Praia; Syracuse, N.Y.), Greg Garza (GD Estoril Praia; Grapevine, Texas), Moises Hernandez (FC Dallas; Dallas, Texas), Sacir Hot (Boston College; Fair Lawn, N.J.), Sebastian Ibeagha (Duke; Missouri City, Texas), Perry Kitchen (Akron; Indianapaolis, Ind.), Zarek Valentin (Akron; Lancaster, Pa.), Korey Veeder (Out of Contract; St. Petersburg, Fla.), Ethan White (D.C. United; Kensington, Md.)

MIDFIELDERS (9): Joe Gyau (Hoffenheim; Silver Spring, Md.), Fabian Huerzeler (Bayern Munich; Munich, Germany), Sebastian Lletget (West Ham United; San Francisco, Calif.), Alex Molano (Dinamo Zagreb; Grapevine, Texas), Moises Orozco (Tigres; Oxnard, Calif.), Dillon Powers (Notre Dame; Plano, Texas), Kelyn Rowe (UCLA; Newport Beach, Calif.), Conor Shanosky (D.C. United; Sterling, Va.), Alex Zahavi (Maccabi Haifa; Los Angeles, Calif.)

FORWARDS (4): Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls; Barnegat, N.J.), Conor Doyle (Derby County; McKinney, Texas), Omar Salgado (unattached; El Paso, Texas), Bobby Wood (1860 Munich; Irvine, Calif.)