BERTH ON LINE FOR SOCCER U-20S.Byline: Daily News CARSON - The United States seeks another world-championship berth starting tonight, when the four-nation regional qualifying tournament for the FIFA FIFA International Association Football Federation [French Fédération Internationale de Football Association] FIFA n abbr (= Fédération Internationale de Football Association) → FIFA f World Youth Championship soccer tournament begins at the Home Depot Center. The U.S. under-20 men's national team takes on Trinidad & Tobago in the second game of a CONCACAF CONCACAF Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (Soccer) CONCACAF Confederacion Norte, Centroamericana y del Caribe de Futbol Asociacion (Spanish) Group A doubleheader, with Costa Rica meeting Panama in the 5:30 p.m. opener. The Americans, seeking their fifth consecutive U-20 championship berth, face Panama on Friday and Costa Rica on Sunday, and the top two teams will advance to the June 10-July 2 world tournament in the Netherlands. Former UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX and Galaxy coach Sigi Schmid guides a U.S. squad that features four UCLA players - defenders Patrick Ianni and Marvell Wynne, midfielder Benny Fahlheber and forward Chad Barrett - and five professionals, including 15-year-old phenom Freddy Adu. CONCACAF, the governing body for soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean, has divided its qualifying into two groups, with Group B - later this month in Honduras - sending two more teams to Holland. Adu, a rookie last season with Major League Soccer champion D.C. United, played in the 2003 World Youth Championship in the United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates, federation of sheikhdoms (2005 est. pop. 2,563,000), c.30,000 sq mi (77,700 sq km), SE Arabia, on the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. . The United States finished fifth. Other pros on the U.S. roster are MetroStars forward Eddie Gaven, San Jose Earthquakes
Gaven, 18, who has emerged as a top forward in MLS, may be limited after undergoing hernia surgery in November. Barrett and Saint Louis University Saint Louis University, mainly at St. Louis, Mo.; Jesuit; coeducational; opened 1818 as an academy, became a college 1820, chartered as a university 1832. Parks College (est. 1927 as Parks College of Aeronautical Technology) in Cahokia, Ill. defender Tim Ward, who have signed developmental contracts with MLS (and will be available in Friday's MLS SuperDraft), also play critical roles for the Americans. |
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