http://www.ussoccer.com/News/U-20-MNT/2012/02/Ramos-Names-U-20-MNT-Roster-for-Florida-Training-Camp.aspx Late Friday announcement for a camp that begins in three days. Feb 20 - Mar 1. 2/26 vs. FC Dallas reserves 2/29 vs. Montreal Impact reserves The roster: GOALKEEPERS (3): Tomas Gomez (Georgetown; Webster Groves, Mo.), Jesus Guzman (Santos Laguna; San Jose, Calif.), Kamil Kaminski (Legia Warszawa; Berlin, Conn.) DEFENDERS (8): AJ Cochran (Wisconsin; St. Louis, Mo.), Sean Cunningham (Molde FK; Troy, Mich.), Christian Dean (California; East Palo Alto, Calif.), Mobi Fehr (Unattached; Tokyo, Japan), Eric Miller (Creighton; Woodbury, Minn.), Juan Pablo Ocegueda (UANL Tigres; Riverside, Calif.), Boyd Okwuonu (North Carolina; Edmund, Okla.), Walker Zimmerman (Furman; Lawrenceville, Ga.). MIDFIELDERS (10): Seth Casiple (California; Rocklin, Calif.), Daniel Cuevas (Santos Laguna; Sacramento, Calif.), Matt Dunn (OFK Beograd; Dallas, Texas), Daniel Garcia (FC Dallas Academy; Dallas, Texas), Alejandro Guido (Unattached; Chula Vista, Calif.), Benji Joya (Santos Laguna; San Jose, Calif.), Mikey Lopez (North Carolina; Mission, Texas), Collin Martin (D.C. United Academy; Chevy Chase, Md.), Daniel Metzger (Maryland; Staten Island, N.Y.), Victor Pineda (Chicago Fire; Bollingbrook, Ill.) FORWARDS (5): Villyan Bijev (Fortuna Düsseldorf; Fresno, Calif.), Alfred Koroma (Solar Chelsea SC; Southlake, Texas), Sean Okoli (Wake Forest; Federal Way, Wash.), Andrew Oliver (Chicago Fire Academy; Indianapolis, Ind.), Omar Salgado (Vancouver Whitecaps; El Paso, Texas)
No relation to Preston Zimmerman right? Oliver is back, that's great news, Salgado also, nice to see U-17's called back.
Some new names, some old names. It's early and we're still very much in the ID stage. I think it's foolish to read anything into the absence of any particular player at this point. A lot of keystone players aren't here; it's good to see Tab cycling through a lot of players before settling on his guys. Kamil Kaminski and Benji Joya are YAs who I don't think were on anyone's radar. Kaminski appears to have played for Poland's U19 team. Joya has popped up with Santos Laguna and played in two matches for their U20 team during the 2012 Clausura season. Tomas Gomez, Christian Dean, Mobi Fehr, Matt Dunn, Alejandro Guido, Mikey Lopez, Daniel Metzger, Victor Pineda, and Andrew Oliver are the other new names. A bunch of those guys are ex-U17s who we know well.
Mobi Fehr (Unattached; Tokyo, Japan) Alejandro Guido (Unattached; Chula Vista, Calif.) Are these guys waiting to turn 18 or something? Does this mean Fehr is likely heading to Europe?
Guido is probably likely waiting to see whether he gets a good offer from Vitesse once he turns 18, if not looks like he might sign with club TJ. As for Fehr last we heard of, he was training with a big European club which the name of was never revealed.
I would speculate that it's because we already know that Gil will be a centerpiece of this team. Now is the time to explore the pool to learn about the other players, allowing Ramos to choose the best supporting cast. At this point in the cycle, it's about talent identification. Gil (and others) have been thoroughly identified. There will be plenty of time for Luis to integrate with the team later on.
Tijuana is quickly becoming America's team in Mexico. I'd call it Club America, but I heard that name is already taken or something.
Also, is Villareal in the same category, or is he not currently advanced enough to make it with these players. I'd find that hard to believe since he was invited to the November camp in Germany.
Correct. VILLARREAL SURGERY SUCCESSFUL: Galaxy Homegrown player Jose Villarreal underwent successful surgery today (Feb. 6) in Santa Monica to repair the bilateral lower leg compartment syndrome, which he was diagnosed with last week. The Inglewood, Calif. native, who was signed by the Galaxy in December, trained with the team for the first week of preseason before experiencing complications from the injury early in the second week of preseason. He is expected to miss six weeks of action while recovering from the surgery, which was performed by Dr. Bert Mandelbaum. http://www.lagalaxy.com/news/2012/02/la-galaxy-weekly-update-february-6
Villarreal is hurt, but it's the same thing with anyone not at the camp: it doesn't really mean anything. Certain players could have injuries we don't know about, others are known quantities already, others are better off spending time with their clubs. It's the talent identification phase and there are plenty of players to identify who aren't busy with professional clubs right now. We can start reading into the patterns of call ups in a couple camps, but even then there are a lot of little reasons why X player is missing or why Y player was called in.
Way too early to worry about or read anything into who is in and who is out. This is Tab's third camp as head coach, counting the combined one with the 23s in Germany last year, and he's already called in 53 U20-eligible players. I suspect in the next year before qualifying starts he'll look at a whole lot more new players while mixing and matching, adding and omitting many of the 53 he's already called in. It's a process and he is, wisely, casting a wide net. Enjoy the process unfolding.