U.S. Soccer’s under-17 residency program reopened this week
with 19 first-semester players in the 40-player fall class at
IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.
Preparations begin in earnest this fall for qualifying for the 2007
Under-17 World Championship next summer in South Korea. The fall class
is dominated by '90 players who will form the nucleus of the 2007 U-17
national team: 26 players were born in 1990 and 13 in 1991.
Only one '90 player, Kyle
Davies, remains in residency to finish up his high school
studies this semester.
Starting this semester, there is one notable schedule change in the
program as the players will now train at IMG Academy in the
morning and attend classes at Edison Academy in the afternoon. Many
players in recent years had taken accelerated academic programs that
often allowed them to finish high school in three years. In addition to
games and tournaments, this year's program is expected to include an
extended stay in South America.
The U-17 staff brought in dozens of prospects in the last year
for evaluations.
"In the past, finding the best players has always been a little tough
because you’re basing your decisions on watching players with
their club teams,” said U-17 coach John Hackworth.
“It is much different when you have them with you in the
national team camp, have them in training and when you put them in game
situations and they put on a national team jersey. Getting a chance to
see these kids perform as part of the U-17s has been invaluable in
terms of picking out the best players for the Residency
Program.”
Of the 19 new players, two are younger brothers of residency graduates:
Kofi Sarkodie's
brother, Ofori,
captained the '05 U-17s; Zarek
Valentin's brother, Julian,
was a standout on the '03 U-17 team. Two new residents in the program
have been stars in the age group for several years: Nigerian-born Christian Ibeagha of
the Edmond (Okla.) Soccer Club and Sierra Leone-born Israel Sesay of the
Potomac (Md.) Soccer Club. Newcomer Evan
Raynr was a star at the 2006 U.S. Youth Soccer National
Championships for Real So Cal.
Twelve former U-17 residency players have also registered at least one
cap with the full U.S. national team, and five have played in the World
Cup: DaMarcus Beasley,
Bobby Convey,
Landon Donovan,
Eddie Johnson
and
Oguchi Onyewu.
U.S. U-17 RESIDENCY
ROSTER (new players in bold):
GOALKEEPERS: Josh Lambo (Middleton, Wis.), Zac MacMath (St.
Petersburg, Fla.), David
Meves (Arlington Heights, Ill.), Larry Jackson (East Palo
Alto, Calif.)
DEFENDERS: Brandon Lee (Tenafly, N.J.), Howard Turk
(Fairfax, Va.), TJ Nelson (Garland, Texas), Mykell Bates (Roseville,
Calif.), Christian
Ibeagha (Edmond, Okla.), Alonzo Carter
(Fairfax, Va.), Zarek
Valentin (Lancaster, Pa.), Aubrey Perry
(Oconee, Fla.), Kofi
Sarkodie (Huber Heights, Ohio), Nick Millington
(Raleigh, N.C.), Kyle Davies (Pleasanton, Calif.)
MIDFIELDERS: Matthew Uy (New Hyde Park, N.Y.), Daniel
Wenzel (Federal Way, Wash.), Axel Levry (Fort Washington, Md.), Jared
Jeffrey (Dallas, Texas), Dane Shea (College Station, Texas), Kirk Urso
(Lombard, Ill.), Alex Dixon (Humble, Texas), Jesse Paredes (Los
Angeles, Calif.), Brandon Zimmerman (Pasco, Wash.), Greg Garza
(Grapevine, Texas), Brendan
King (Naperville, Ill.), Evan Raynr
(Calabasas, Calif.), Ryan
Gracia (Rockville, Md.), Amobi Okugo
(Sacramento, Calif.), Scott
Caldwell (Braintree, Mass.)
FORWARDS: Sheanon Williams (Boston, Mass.), Ellis
McLoughlin (Seattle, Wash.), Bryan Dominguez (Atlanta, Ga.), Abdus
Ibrahim (Richfield, Minn.), Israel
Sesay (Gaithersburg, Md.), Danny Barerra (Thousand Oaks,
Calif.), Eduardo Gonzalez
(Atlanta, Ga.), Jose
Altimorano (San Diego, Calif.), Dersu Abolfathi (Irvine,
Calif.), Ryan Finley
(Lumberton, N.J.)



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