Houston Dynamo forward Will Bruin, midfielder Danny Cruz, defender Kofi Sarkodie, and Dynamo Academy defender Sebastien Ibeagha have been named to the 28-player roster for the upcoming U.S. Under-23 men’s national team training camp. The eight-day training camp will run from Dec. 15-23 in Lakewood Ranch, Fla., at the Premier Sports Campus. This will be the first camp under new U-23 head coach Caleb Porter.
“At every camp we expect to push the group forward by continuing to evaluate the player pool while imprinting the concepts of how we will play as a team on both sides of the ball,” said Porter. “As we sort through our personnel and start to hone in on the roster, it is equally as important that the players develop a clear understanding of the culture of how we will do things leading up to our first match in Nashville.”
The U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team was drawn into Group A of the 2012 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament and will face Canada, Cuba and El Salvador. The teams will play their group matches from March 22-26 at LP Field in Nashville. The two finalists from the tournament will qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games in London next summer.
Bruin and Sarkodie are currently on the Generation adidas trip to The Netherlands, and will join the camp upon their arrival back in the United States. Sarkodie previously played for the national team at the FIFA U-17 World Cup and has three caps for the U-20 national team. Bruin will be making his first appearance at a national team camp following a stellar rookie campaign with the Dynamo.
Cruz represented the United States at the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt and helped the U.S. qualify for that tournament with two assists in the CONCACAF U-20 Championship. Cruz was also on the U-17 squad that participated in the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup in South Korea and the Pan American Games in Brazil.
Ibeagha, a 2010 graduate of Fort Bend Hightower High School in the Houston area, is one of two players currently in college to be selected for the camp. The former Dynamo Academy centerback just completed his sophomore season at Duke University. He was named to the All-ACC second team this past season after earning All-ACC freshman honors in 2010. Ibeagha has seven caps for the U-20 national team including two appearances at the CONCACAF U-20 qualifying tournament last spring.
U.S. UNDER-23 ROSTER BY POSITION
GOALKEEPERS (4): David Bingham (San Jose Earthquakes), Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Zac MacMath (Philadelphia Union)
DEFENDERS (8): Gale Agbossoumonde (Eintracht Frankfurt), Royal-Dominique Fennell (Stuttgarter Kickers), Sebastien Ibeagha (Duke), Kofi Sarkodie (Houston Dynamo), Zarek Valentin (Montreal Impact), Jorge Villafana (Chivas USA), Andrew Wenger (Duke), Sheanon Williams (Philadelphia Union)
MIDFIELDERS (10): Freddy Adu (Philadelphia Union), Bryan Arguez (Montreal Impact), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Danny Cruz (Houston Dynamo), Mikkel Diskerud (Stabæk), Dilly Duka (Columbus Crew), Jared Jeffrey (Mainz), Sebastian Lletget (West Ham United), Amobi Okugo (Philadelphia Union), Michael Stephens (LA Galaxy)
FORWARDS (6): Will Bruin (Houston Dynamo), Teal Bunbury (Sporting KC), Jann George (Nürnberg), Joe Gyau (Hoffenheim), Jack McInerney (Philadelphia Union), Andrew Wooten (Kaiserslautern)
