BRADENTON, Fla. (July 29, 2005) U.S. Under-17 Men’s National Team head coach John Hackworth announced the 22-man roster for the team’s tour of Holland from July 29 to Aug. 9. The U.S. will play four games on the tour as they continue to prepare for the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship, which will take place from September 16-October 2 in Peru.

Hackworth reduced the 24-man roster, which has been training in Atlanta for the past three days, by two as goalkeeper Brian Perk and midfielder Bobby Warshaw will not make the overseas trip. Only two players (Daniel Kelly and Diego Restrepo) on the Holland roster are currently not a part of U.S. Soccer’s Residency Program.

The week-and-a-half trip will include four games against Dutch club reserve teams. Upon arriving in Holland on July 30, the U-17s will travel to their camp location of Roermond and have two days of practice before their first match against PSV Eindhoven on Aug. 1. The U.S. will also face Heerenveen on Aug. 3, KRC Genk on Aug. 6 and Ajax on Aug. 8, before returning home the following day.

The U.S. Under-17 Men’s National Team has been drawn into Group C with North Korea, Ivory Coast and Italy for the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Peru. The U.S. opens against North Korea (Korea DPR) on Sept. 17 at 12:45 p.m. CT, before facing Italy on Sept. 20 (3:30 p.m. CT) and concludes group play on Sept. 23 (3:30 p.m. CT) against Ivory Coast.

The U.S. will play their first two group matches against North Korea and Italy at Elias Aguirre Stadium in Chiclayo, before moving to Lima to face Ivory Coast in their third and final group match at Nacional Stadium. Every U.S. match at the World Youth Championship can be followed live via ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker, presented by Phillips Electronics.

U-17 ’88 MNT Holland Schedule
Date          Opponent
Aug. 1       PSV Eindhoven
Aug. 3       Heerenveen
Aug. 6       KRC Genk
Aug. 8       Ajax

U-17 ’88 MNT Holland Roster by Position
GOALKEEPERS (2): Bryant Rueckner (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.), Diego Restrepo (West Palm Beach, Fla.);

DEFENDERS (7): Michael Balogun (Houston, Texas), Kevin Alston (Silver Spring, Md.), Eric Lichaj (Downer’s Grove, Ill.), Ofori Sarkodie (Huber Heights, Ohio), Richard Edgar (Mechanicsville, Md.), Blake Wagner (Tampa, Fla.), Amaechi Igwe (Belmont, Calif.);

MIDFIELDERS (9): Quavas Kirk (Aurora, Ill.), Kyle Nakazawa (Palos Verde Est., Calif.), Ryan Soroka (Langhorne, Pa.), Daniel Kelly (Henderson, Tenn.), Neven Subotic (Bradenton, Fla.), Jeremy Hall (Tampa, Fla.), Michael Farfan (San Diego, Calif.), Gabriel Farfan (San Diego, Calif.), Anthony Ampaiptakwong (Carrollton, Texas);

FORWARDS (4): Preston Zimmerman (Pasco, Wash.), David Arvizu (Santa Ana, Calif.), Omar Gonzalez (Dallas, Texas), Eddie Ababio (Tampa, Fla.)

- 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship Page -