A talented crop of rising MLS stars are set to seize the spotlight on Friday as the US and Canada face off against their regional counterparts for World Cup berths at the 2015 CONCACAF U-20 Championship in Jamaica.
A US U-20 national team dubbed “stronger than groups in the past from top to bottom” by head coach Tab Ramos (pictured at right) will kick off their tournament vs. Guatemala in the second game of an opening-day tripleheader at the National Stadium in Kingston (5:30 pm ET, Fox Sports 2).
Meanwhile, Canada open their tough-looking Group B campaign vs. Haiti in Montego Bay on Saturday (8 pm ET, FoxSoccer2Go).
Overall, nearly two dozen players with MLS ties will be taking part in the 12-team tournament, with youngsters from Columbus Crew SC, D.C. United, FC Dallas, Houston Dynamo, LA Galaxy, Montreal Impact, New York Red Bulls, New England Revolution, Orlando City SC, San Jose Earthquakes, Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps representing an array of countries across the region.
HISTORY AND FORMAT
This month's event will determine the four nations from the region to partake in this summer's FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand, but player development is also a prime priority. For this year's edition the format has been tweaked “in a bid to favor development and competition,” in the words of CONCACAF officials, with all teams guaranteed at least five matches instead of just two in previous editions.
Group A features hosts Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Aruba, Panama, the United States and Guatemala. Group B contains Haiti, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Honduras and El Salvador. The top finishers in each group will book their places in New Zealand and meet on the final day of the competition to compete for the title of confederation champion. On the same day, the second- and third-place nations from each group will take part in a pair of play-in matches to determine CONCACAF's other two World Cup qualifiers.
The National Stadium in Kingston and the Montego Bay Sports Complex will each play host to Group A matches, while the Montego Bay Sports Complex hosts all the action in Group B, and the final phase on January 24.
Mexico are the tournament's two-time defending champions.
FAVORITES
Carrying back-to-back CONCACAF U-20 Championship titles that are the deserved fruit of a well-oiled player development system, Mexico must be considered the odds-on pick to claim top honors in Jamrock. But with a wealth of talent honed by steadily increasing numbers of full-time professionals in their ranks, both the US and Canada will travel south confident in their prospects of booking places in the World Cup, and perhaps even knocking El Tri off their perch.
For their part, the host nation will be eager to cash in on a promising assortment of junior prospects with the wind of home-field advantage in their sails, while Honduras, Panama and Trinidad & Tobago lead the trailing pack of the region's smaller nations.
MLS PLAYERS IN ACTION
Ramos' vaunted US team includes Quakes attacker Tommy Thompson, Galaxy forward Bradford Jamieson IV, Red Bulls center back Matt Miazga, Columbus Crew SC midfielder Romain Gall and Orlando City defender Tyler Turner, while FC Dallas' Kellyn Acosta is captaining the side.
Canada coach Rob Gale (pictured at right) has called in six Whitecaps to his squad: goalkeeper Marco Carducci, midfielders Kianz Froese and Marco Bustos, and defenders Sam Adekugbe, Jackson Farmer and Jordan Haynes.
TFC and the Impact each have two players on the roster: TFC's Jordan Hamilton and midfielder Manny Aparicio, and Montreal's Louis Béland-Goyette and Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé. Les Rouges goalkeeper Nolan Wirth (Oregon State) and defender Chris Serban (University of British Columbia) are both products of the Whitecaps' residency program.
Looking further afield, D.C. United Homegrown Player Michael Seaton (pictured below) will lead Jamaica's young Reggae Boyz. Orlando City's Bryan Róchez, the youngest Designated Player in MLS history, will represent Honduras and FC Dallas Homegrown goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez was named to the Mexican squad.
Players from MLS academies who will be competing include Red Bulls forward Derrick Etienne (Haiti), Revolution defender Zach Herivaux (Haiti), FCD midfielder Andy Ruiz (Guatemala) and Dynamo goalkeeper Johan Welch (Trinidad & Tobago).
Longwood University goalkeeper Carlos Cañas (El Salvador), who spent time with the D.C. United academy in high school, was also named to his country's roster.
TV LISTINGS
The 2015 CONCACAF U-20 Championship will be broadcast on the Fox network and Univision Deportes. All US matches and other selected contests will air on Fox Sports 2 (marked as such below), and all tournament games will be streamed live via FoxSports2Go.
Full schedule:
Day 1 – Friday, January 9
15:00 Aruba vs. Panama
17:30 USA vs. Guatemala (UDN/Fox Sports 2)
20:00 Jamaica vs. Trinidad & Tobago
Day 2 – Saturday, January 10
15:00 Mexico vs. Cuba (UDN/Fox Sports 2)
17:30 Honduras vs. El Salvador
20:00 Haiti vs. Canada
Day 3 – Sunday, January 11
15:00 Trinidad & Tobago vs. Aruba
17:30 Panama vs. USA (Fox Sports 2)
20:00 Jamaica vs. Guatemala
Day 4 – Monday, January 12
15:00 Canada vs. Mexico
17:30 Cuba vs. Honduras
20:00 El Salvador vs. Haiti
Day 5 – Tuesday, January 13
Rest Day
Day 6 – Wednesday, January 14
15:00 Guatemala vs. Trinidad & Tobago
17:30 Aruba vs. USA (Fox Sports 2)
20:00 Jamaica vs. Panama
Day 7 – Thursday, January 15
15:00 El Salvador vs. Canada
17:30 Mexico vs. Honduras
20:00 Haiti vs. Cuba
Day 8 – Friday, January 16
Rest Day
Day 9 – Saturday, January 17
Rest Day
Day 10 – Sunday, January 18
15:00 Panama vs. Trinidad & Tobago
17:30 Guatemala vs. Aruba
20:00 Jamaica vs. USA (Fox Sports 2)
Day 11 – Monday, January 19
15:00 Cuba vs. Canada
17:30 El Salvador vs. Mexico
20:00 Haiti vs. Honduras
Day 12 – Tuesday, January 20
Rest Day
Day 13 – Wednesday, January 21
15:00 Panama vs. Guatemala
17:30 USA vs. Trinidad & Tobago (Fox Sports 2)
20:00 Jamaica vs. Aruba
Day 14 – Thursday, January 22
15:00 Cuba vs. El Salvador
17:30 Honduras vs. Canada
20:00 Haiti vs. Mexico
Day 15 – Friday, January 23
Rest Day
Day 16 – Saturday, January 24
14:00 2nd Play-in Seed vs. 3rd Play-in Seed
17:00 1st Play-in Seed vs. 4th Play-in Seed
20:00 Group A champion vs. Group B champion
