Ready Freddy

U.S. names phenom Adu in roster for under-17 qualifying

Eddie Gaven was signed by MLS's Ivan Gazidis (left) and drafted by the MetroStars. Elsa/Getty Images

ATLANTA (SI.com) -- U.S. under-17 men's national team head coach John Ellinger announced his 18-man roster on Tuesday for the CONCACAF Group A qualifying tournament that takes place from March 5-9 in Guatemala City. (Full Roster)

The roster includes 13-year-old Ghana native Freddy Adu, the youngest player on the team by about two years, who recently received his U.S. citizenship.

The U.S., which has posted a 46-18-12 record since January 2002, will depart for Guatemala on March 2, after spending four days training in Sunrise, Fla.

The U.S. is the only country in the world to qualify for every under-17 FIFA World Championship, but Ellinger and his team will face one of their toughest tasks to advance to their 10th world championship.

The U.S. opens the qualifying tournament March 5 against Jamaica before facing El Salvador on March 7 and wrapping up against hosts Guatemala on March 9.

The top finisher in the four-team qualifying group will advance to the 2003 FIFA Under-17 World Championship in Finland, and the second-place team will advance to a home-and-home playoff against the second-place team from CONCACAF Group B, which includes Mexico, Canada, Cuba and Costa Rica. The Group B tournament will be held in Canada from March 26-30.

"We have quite a challenging road in front of us," said U.S. under-17 head coach John Ellinger. "We will need to play three very solid games to give ourselves a chance to advance to Finland 2003.

"However, I have confidence that our players will rise to the challenge and put forth a great effort in a very difficult environment. We know what we need to do to qualify, and I know the players are looking forward to getting to Guatemala and stepping onto the field."

Ellinger will turn to a quartet of talented attackers to generate the majority of the team's offense in Guatemala. Recent MLS draftees Guillermo Gonzalez (26 goals) and Eddie Gaven (17), along with fleet-footed Corey Ashe (14) and Adu (24) have combined to score 81 goals in the past 14 months.

Expectations are running high for Adu.

"He is one of a kind, an elite player," said Ellinger.

Forward Jamie Watson, who has totaled nine goals and seven assists in 16 matches since joining the team last fall, will provide the U.S. with an offensive spark off the bench.

John DiRaimondo and Ashe patrol the midfield flanks for Ellinger's squad, and Brian Grazier, Danny Szetela and Gonzalez combine to man the center of the field. Michael Harrington and Steve Curfman provide the U.S. side with depth and options in the midfield.

Defensively, the U.S. is headed by a pair of physical centerbacks in Jonathan Spector and Brandon Owens, in front of goalkeepers Phil Marfuggi and Quentin Westberg. Adrian Chevannes and Chris Germani have started recently at right and left back, respectively, and they'll be backed up by Kyle Helton, while Julian Valentin gives support at all four backline positions.

The U.S. under-17s broke several U.S. Soccer records in 2002, setting new marks for wins in a year (40), games played (66) and shutouts (25). The under-17s posted a 40-15-11 record in 2002, scoring more than twice as many goals as their opponents (153 goals for, 74 goals against). The team closed out the year with only two losses in their final 25 matches, losing a pair of 1-0 games in the final week of December.

The U.S. under-17s won the CONCACAF Group A qualifying tournament in 2001, finishing with a perfect 3-0-0 record after wins against Jamaica (2-1), Canada (4-2) and El Salvador (4-0). That team lost each of its three games at the championship tournament in Trinidad and Tobago, falling to Japan, France and Nigeria.

In 1999, Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley and Co., finished second in their CONCACAF group with one win and two draws and were thrown into a two-game playoff against El Salvador for CONCACAF's final berth in the world championship. The U.S. won both legs of the playoff (6-1 in El Salvador and 4-0 in Columbus, Ohio) and advanced to New Zealand '99, where they finished a national-best fourth place.

The 2003 Under-17 World Championship will be held in Helsinki, Tampere, Turku and Lathi, with 32 matches from August 13-30.

 

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