CHICAGO (July 5, 2007) – Bob Jenkins, head coach of the U.S. Men’s Pan-American Soccer Team, announced his 17-player roster for the upcoming Pan-American Games, which will be held from July 13-26 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The team will open the tournament on July 15 against Venezuela at 5:15 p.m. ET at the Zico Football Center before taking on Bolivia on July 18 at 2 p.m. ET at the Miecimo da Silva Sport Complex. The U.S. will round out group play against Mexico on July 21 at 9 a.m. ET at Brazil’s famed Maracana Stadium. The tournament semifinals will take place on July 24 and the third place and final matches will be held on July 27, all at Maracana Stadium.
Highlighting the roster are 11 collegiate players, including three from UCLA in Greg Folk, Chance Meyers and Michael Stephens. The Atlantic Coast Conference adds three players in Clemson’s Greg Eckhardt and Maryland’s Omar Gonzales and Jeremy Hall, and the Big Ten Conference adds four in Penn State’s Warren Gross, Indiana’s Kevin Alston and Daniel Kelly and the University of Michigan’s Peri Marosevic. Santa Clara’s Kevin Klasila, Stephen McCarthy and Jalil Anibaba round out the college contingent, with Klasila making his first appearance with a youth national team.
Marosevic is coming off of a strong showing at the Lisbon International Tournament with the U.S. Under-18s in early June where he scored three of the USA’s four goals. The Rockford, Ill., native tallied the only U.S. goal in a 3-1 loss to New Zealand, and two goals in a 3-2 win over Norway.
The three youngest players on the roster, Danny Barrera, Danny Cruz and Shawn Barry, all turned 17 earlier this year and hail from Thousand Oaks, Calif., Glendale, Ariz. and Miramar, Fla., respectively. Four midfielders, Jalil Anibaba of Davis Calif., Norfolk, Va.’s TJ Cyrus, Jeremy Hall from Tampa, Fla., and Dan Kelly from Hendersonville, Tenn., complete the 17-player roster.
Of the 17 players, nine have been a part of the U.S. Under-17 Residency Program in Alston, Barerra, Davies, Eckhardt, Gonzalez, Hall, Kelly, Marosevic and Stephens. Alston, Gonzalez, Hall and Kelly were part of the U.S. Under-17 team that participated at the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Anibaba, Gonzalez, Hall, Kelly, McCarthy, Myers and Stephens all made appearances for the U.S. Under-20s during the past two-year cycle.
The Pan American games are a continental version of the Olympic Games which includes the Olympic Program sports and others that are not part of the Olympics. Always conducted one year before the Olympic Games, the first Pan American Games were held in 1951, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Inspired by the holding of the first Central American Games in 1924, the Latin American representatives of the International Olympic Committee proposed the creation of a competition that would include all the countries in the Americas to strengthen sport activities in the region.
U.S. MEN'S PAN-AMERICAN GAMES ROSTER
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
July 13-26, 2007
| Name | Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | Birth Date | Hometown | School/Club |
| Alston, Kevin | D | 5-9 | 154 | 05/05/88 | Silver Springs, Md. | Indiana University |
| Anibaba, Jalil | M | 6-0 | 165 | 10/19/88 | Davis, Calif. | Santa Clara |
| Barrera, Danny | M | 5-7 | 150 | 01/08/90 | Thousand Oaks, Calif. | Rampage FC |
| Barry, Shawn | F | 6-0 | 150 | 04/23/90 | Miramar, Fla. | Boca Juniors (USA) |
| Cruz, Danny | F | 5-8 | 170 | 01/03/90 | Glendale, Ariz. | Sereno '89 White |
| Cyrus, TJ | M | 5-9 | 170 | 01/31/89 | Norfolk, Va. | Norfolk Academy |
| Eckhardt, Greg | D | 6-0 | 175 | 01/07/89 | Orange Park, Fla. | Clemson University |
| Folk, Greg | D | 5-8 | 160 | 04/10/87 | Woodland Hills, Calif. | UCLA |
| Gonzalez, Omar | F | 6-5 | 205 | 10/11/88 | Dallas, Texas | University of Maryland |
| Gross, Warren | GK | 6-3 | 200 | 07/01/89 | Greenfield Center, Pa. | Penn State |
| Hall, Jeremy | M | 5-9 | 155 | 09/11/88 | Tampa, Fla. | University of Maryland |
| Kelly, Dan | M/F | 6-0 | 174 | 03/29/89 | Hendersonville, Tenn. | Indiana University |
| Klasila, Kevin | GK | 6-1 | 185 | 05/02/89 | Los Angeles, Calif. | Santa Clara University |
| Peri Marosevic | F | 5-9 | 160 | 05/05/89 | Rockford, Ill. | University of Michigan |
| McCarthy, Stephen | M | 6-4 | 175 | 07/21/88 | Colleyville, Texas | Santa Clara University |
| Meyers, Chance | D | 6-0 | 160 | 12/07/87 | Thousand Oaks, Calif. | UCLA |
| Stephens, Michael | M | 5-9 | 155 | 04/03/89 | Naperville, Ill. | UCLA |
| Warshaw, Bobby | F/M | 6-0 | 185 | 11/21/88 | Mechanicsburg, Pa. | Stanford |
U.S. Pan-American Games Roster by Position:
GOALKEEPERS (2): Warren Gross (Penn State), Kevin Klasila (Santa Clara University)
DEFENDERS (5): Kevin Alston (Indiana University), Shawn Barry (Miramar, Fla.), Greg Eckhardt (Clemson University), Greg Folk (UCLA), Chance Meyers (UCLA)
MIDFIELERS (7): Jalil Anibaba (Santa Clara), Danny Barrera (Thousand Oaks, Calif.), TJ Cyrus (Norfolk, Va.), Jeremy Hall (University of Maryland), Dan Kelly (Indiana University), Stephen McCarthy (Santa Clara University), Michael Stephens (UCLA)
FORWARDS (3): Danny Cruz (Glendale, Ariz.), Omar Gonzalez (University of Maryland), Peri Marosevic (University of Michigan)
U.S. Men's Pan-American Team Schedule
Date Opponent Location Time
July 15 Venezuela Zico Football Center 5:15 p.m. ET
July 18 Bolivia Miécimo da Silva Complex 2 p.m. ET
July 21 Mexico Maracanã Stadium 9 a.m. ET
July 24 Semifinals Maracana Stadium 2:30 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. ET
July 27 Finals Maracana Stadium 2 p.m. ET
Pan-American Games Full Schedule
Group A
Sunday, July 15
Ecuador vs. Costa Rica
Brazil vs. Honduras
Wednesday, July 18
Brazil vs. Costa Rica
Honduras vs. Ecuador
Saturday, July 21
Brazil vs. Ecuador
Costa Rica vs. Honduras
Group B
Sunday, July 15
Mexico vs. Bolivia
USA vs. Venezuela
Wednesday, July 18
Bolivia vs. USA
Mexico vs. Venezuela
Saturday, July 21
USA vs. Mexico
Venezuela vs. Bolivia
Group C
Sunday, July 15
Colombia vs. Jamaica
Argentina vs. Haiti
Wednesday, July 18
Jamaica vs. Argentina
Haiti vs. Colombia
Saturday, July 21
Jamaica vs. Haiti
Argentina vs. Colombia
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