SMU's Steve Sandbo Named to the US U20 National Team
Published 6/20/2007 12:29:12 AM by staff from smu
SMU goalkeeper Steve Sandbo has been named to the the 21-player roster that will represent the US at the 2007 FIFA U20 World Cup in Canada, from June 30-July 22 in an announcement made Friday by United States U20 Men's National Team head coach Thomas Rongen. The roster features 14 professional players, the most ever for a US U20 World Cup team, and is led by three-time U20 World Cup participant Freddy Adu and high-scoring forward Josmer Altidore, the youngest player on the team at age 17. Sandbo, who will enter his senior season at SMU this fall, sports a Mustang career goals-against-average of 1.40. The Columbus, Ohio, native was also selected to the U.S. U-20 men's national team in 2006. The U.S. was drawn into Group D with Korea Republic, Poland and Brazil. This is the sixth straight appearance for the U.S. in the world championship and their 11th overall. The U.S. opens against Korea Republic on June 30, then faces Poland on July 3 and concludes group play on July 6 against four-time U-20 world champions Brazil. The U.S. will play Korea Republic and Poland at The Olympic Stadium in Montreal, before heading to Ottawa to face Brazil at Frank Clair Stadium. Every U.S. match at the U-20 World Cup will be broadcast live on ESPNU, and can be followed live via ussoccer.com's MatchTracker. The 24-team field is divided into six groups of four, with the top two teams from each group and the top four (of six) third-place teams advancing to the Round of 16. The 52-match tournament will take place at six venues in Canada with games in Burnaby, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Victoria. Each game will be broadcast on ESPNU and ESPN360.com. The 21 players on the World Cup roster will arrive in Somerset, N.J. on June 17 for training before departing for Montreal. The team will also play a preparation game against Chile at Giants Stadium on June 23, with kickoff set for 2 p.m. ET. Roster By Position:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Brian Perk (UCLA), Steve Sandbo (SMU), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS (6): Tony Beltran (UCLA), Amaechi Igwe (New England Revolution), Ofori Sarkodie (Indiana University), Nathan Sturgis (Columbus Crew), Julian Valentin (Wake Forest), Tim Ward (Columbus Crew)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Freddy Adu (Real Salt Lake), Bryan Arguez (D.C. United), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Dax McCarty (F.C. Dallas), Danny Szetela (Columbus Crew), Anthony Wallace (F.C. Dallas)
FORWARDS (6): Andre Akpan (Harvard), Josmer Altidore (N.Y. Red Bulls), Gabriel Ferrari (Sampdoria), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), Johann Smith (Bolton F.C.), Sal Zizzo (UCLA)
Label: SMU mens soccer, SMU, Steve Sanbo, US U20 national team
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