Five players return for Northern Ireland tournament

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Jul 14, 2012

[MILK CUP] U.S. under-20 national team head coach Tab Ramos named an 18-player roster for the team’s trip to the Northern Ireland Milk Cup July 21-26. The USA is a two-time winner of the tournament that will include matches with Denmark July 21 in Limavady and Turkey two days later at the Showgrounds in Ballymena.

The playoff games to determine final placement in the event, including the championship, will take place on Thursday, July 26.

The U.S. squad includes 10 players from the team’s South American tour in early June.

Five players -- Cody Cropper, Juan Pablo Ocegueda, Boyd Okwuonu, Walker Zimmerman and Victor Pineda -- were part of the U.S. team that took third place in the 2011 Milk Cup.

U.S. Roster:
GOALKEEPERS (2): Cody Cropper (free agent), Kendall McIntosh (Santa Clara Univ.)
DEFENDERS (6): AJ Cochran (Univ. of Wisconsin), Holden Fender (Concorde Fire), Eric Miller (Creighton Univ.), Juan Pablo Ocegueda (Tigres/MEX), Boyd Okwuonu (Univ. of North Carolina), Walker Zimmerman (Furman Univ.)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Benji Joya (Santos/MEX), Mikey Lopez (Univ. of North Carolina), Collin Martin (D.C. United Academy), Daniel Metzger (Univ. of Maryland), Dillon Serna (Colorado Rapids Academy), Wil Trapp (Univ. of Akron)
FORWARDS (4): Daniel Cuevas (Santos/MEX), Alfred Koroma (Solar Chelsea), Victor Pineda (Chicago Fire), Mario Rodriguez (Kaiserslautern/GER)