Dating back to 1985 the USA is the only country to have qualified for every FIFA U-17 World Championship, a total of seven youth championship appearances. The 1999 U.S. U-17 team, led by head coach
John Ellinger, is 90 minutes away from clinching a berth in the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship and will host El Salvador in the second leg of their playoff on May 22 at the new Columbus Crew
Stadium. The USA-El Salvador match will kickoff at 4:00 p.m. ET and will be the first of an MLS doubleheader between the Columbus Crew and the Tampa Bay Mutiny. The U-17 match can be heard live on
the internet at www.us-soccer.com with Dwight Burgess (the radio voice of the Columbus Crew) calling all the action. The webcast is the first in U.S. Soccer history. The U.S. will be looking to
extend its unbeaten streak to 13 games. The U-17s have not lost since Aug. 30, 1998 posting a 9-0-3 record, and the team has outscored their last twelve opponents 36 to 4 with eight shutouts and a
0.33 goals against average. The U-17s defeated El Salvador 6-1 in their first match of the two-game playoff series, almost assuring the USA an appearance in New Zealand. The victory also snapped
an 11-year winless drought for a U.S. team in El Salvador. U.S. U-17 head coach John Ellinger has added Matt Roberts (Bell Mead, NJ) to the roster for the match, replacing Raul Rivera (Tulare, CA).
All-time leading goal-scorer Landon Donovan (Redlands, CA), who has tallied 29 goals in 31 appearances, will be back in the line-up on Saturday after missing the May 9 match due to a one-game
suspension. Here's a look at the U.S. roster for the May 22 match:
Goalkeepers -- Delvin Countess (Sacramento, Calif.), Steve Cronin (Sacramento, Calif.).
Defenders -- Nelson
Akwari (Houston), Kellen Kalso (Oxford, Mich.), Greg Martin (Plano, Texas), Oguchi Onyewu (Olney, Md.), Matt Roberts (Bell Mead, N.J.), Abe Thompson (Fairfax Station, Va.), Seth Trembly (Littleton,
Colo.), Alexander Yi (Easton, Md.).
Midfielders -- DaMarcus Beasley (Fort Wayne, Ind.), Kyle Beckerman (Crofton, Md.), Kenneth Cutler (Richmond, Va.), Adolfo Gregorio (Hilmar, Calif.), Bryan
Jackson (La Canada, Calif.)
Forwards -- Jordan Cila (Jericho, N.Y.), Bobby Convey (Philadelphia), Landon Donovan (Redlands, Calif.).
