Regional Under-20s Held In Charleston.
This tournament marks the first time since 1980 that the United States has hosted the under-20 men’s world championships. In April of 2001, the U.S. Soccer Federation played host to the CONCACAF Under-17 qualifying tournament in St. Louis with the Americans advancing to the world tournament for a ninth consecutive time.
In November, the four-nation Group B qualifying tournament will include the U.S.. Canada, the second-place team from Central America and the winner of a playoff between the Caribbean Group B and Group C winners. A round robin format will be used with each country playing the others once. The top two finishers advance to World Youth Championship in the United Arab Emirates which runs from March 25 to April 16 in 2003.
CONCACAF, the confederation for North America, Central America and the Caribbean, will hold another qualifying tournament in Panama from October 16-20.
“We’ve been training and preparing for this event for almost a year now and I think this team is ready for the challenge ahead of us,” said U.S. under-20 coach Thomas Rongen. “We have a nice mix of college and professional players, and I think Blackbaud Stadium and the fans there will help us reach our goal of qualifying for next year’s world championship.”
The U.S. under-20 men have posted a 10-5-9 record in 2002, scoring nearly twice as many goals (39-20) as a variety of competition, including full internationals and club opponents. The final roster will not be released until the tournament approaches, but numerous Major League Soccer players — those born Janaurya 1, 1983 or after — are eligible. Among them are including strikers Santino Quaranta (D.C. United), Eddie Johnson (Dallas Burn) and Devin Barclay (San Jose Earthquakes), and midfielders Craig Capano (Chicago Fire), Bobby Convey (D.C. United), Justin Mapp (D.C. United), Santino Miguel Saavedra (Chicago) and Jordan Stone (Dallas Burn).