Tab Ramos has played in World Cups before, and he knows what it means to be prepared and ready to play, and also what it means not to be as ready as possible.
The U.S. is headed to the 2013 FIFA Under-20 Men’s World Cup in Turkey, June 21-July 13. The team has a challenging draw, being grouped with Spain, France and Ghana.
The U.S. U-20s qualified for the World Cup with a second-place finish in the CONCACAF U20 Championship, losing to Mexico in overtime.
Ramos’ last major competition before leaving for Turkey is the Toulon Tournament in France at the end of May. This is an U21 tournament, but most World Cup qualified teams are sending their U20s to prep for the World Cup.
“Obviously we’re excited for the (Toulon) tournament and to have this last chance to evaluate our team heading into the U-20 World Cup,” said Ramos.
“We’ll have a couple players who have not been with us before and some others who we want to look at a little more as we finalize our 21-player roster. All of the players are being considered for Turkey.”
One player not on the roster for Toulon is defender John Anthony Brooks, who holds both American and German citizenship. Brooks is in a quandary as to whether to play for the U.S. U20s, or wait for an invitation to Germany’s U21.
Brooks is a starter for Herta Berline in 2. Bundesliga. He participated in several US U-20 camps and in one with Germany.
One newcomer to the U.S. team is 19-year old Alonso Hernandez, who plays professionally in Mexico with Monterrey. He has seven goals in nine starts for Monterrey’s U20 team.
Hernandez left his native El Paso, Texas at age 15, signing across the US-Mexico border with Indios de Ciudad Juarez. He was loaned to a third division team and two years later when Indios lost their league status, he was picked up by Monterrey for their U-17 squad.
Ramos’ roster includes 13 players from the CONCACAF championship runner-up team, but will be missing several players currently starting with their MLS teams.
“This is a great situation for us, having decided to come to this tournament,” said Ramos of the value of playing in Toulon in a Q&A with ussoccer.com.
“We’ve been preparing for a year and a half. This is the final piece in which we the coaching staff can decide on players and put the final pieces together to have the best team possible come the World Cup in about three weeks.
“We’re excited to have this opportunity. Throughout the tournament we’ll be rotating the team and giving everybody an opportunity to play.”
Ramos was asked about the growing trust and confidence he has seen in this group of Under-20 players. In the past the U.S. U20s had gone to World Cup competitions with high expectations, but have under performed.
“I see that we have a team with a lot more confidence this time,” said Ramos. “Guys are buying into what we do, and at the same time they’re confident with their abilities.
“We have given them all that confidence for the past year and a half, but I think for them it’s difficult to trust themselves until they get results. Since we shuffled lineups around throughout the year, until we actually have to win games, it’s difficult for them to get the full confidence.”