ON FRIDAY, UNITED STATES U-20 head coach Marko Mitrovic named his roster for the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup which gets underway September 27^th in Chile. The roster contains few surprises and Mitrovic was able to keep his core together through the entire cycle.

The U.S. U-20 team will open group play on September 29^th  against New Caledonia before facing France on October 2^nd and African U-20 champions South Africa on October 5^th.

Here is the roster along with some thoughts:

FIFA U-20 WORLD CUP ROSTER BY POSITION

(CLUB/COUNTRY; U-20 CAPS/GOALS; HOMETOWN)

GOALKEEPERS (3): 12-Adam Beaudry (Colorado Rapids; Castle Pines, Colo.; 7/0), 21-Duran Ferree (San Diego FC; San Diego, Calif.; 1/0), 1-Diego Kochen (FC Barcelona/ESP; Miramar, Fla.; 5/0)

DEFENDERS (7): 2-Reed Baker-Whiting (Seattle Sounders; Seattle, Wash.; 7/0), 18- Luca Bombino (San Diego FC; Saugus, Calif.; 9/0), 5-Noah Cobb (Colorado Rapids;0 Chattanooga, Tenn.; 13/0), 16-Ethan Kohler (SC Verl/GER; Campbell, Calif.; 12/1), 3- Nolan Norris (FC Dallas; Fort Worth, Texas; 16/0), 17-Francis Westfield (Philadelphia Union; Philadelphia, Pa.; 7/0), 4-Joshua Wynder (Benfica/POR; Louisville, Ky.; 11/1)

MIDFIELDERS (6): 19-Matthew Corcoran (Nashville SC; Dallas, Texas; 5/1), 8- Benjamin Cremaschi (Parma/ITA; Key Biscayne, Fla.; 9/2), 14-Taha Habroune (Columbus Crew; Columbus, Ohio; 14/2), 6-Brooklyn Raines (Houston Dynamo; Chicago, Ill.; 15/1), 15-Pedro Soma (San Diego FC; Coconut Creek, Fla.; 15/2), 10-Niko Tsakiris (San Jose Earthquakes; Saratoga, Calif.; 23/8)

FORWARDS (5): 11-Luke Brennan (Atlanta United; Atlanta, Ga.; 10/2), 7-Cole Campbell (Borussia Dortmund/GER; Peachtree City, Ga.; 3/0), 20-Zavier Gozo (Real Salt Lake City; Eagle Mountain, Utah; 11/2), 13-Peyton Miller (New England Revolution; Unionville, Conn.; 6/1), 9-Marcos Zambrano (Real Salt Lake; Gladwyne, Pa.; 13/6)

Strong roster

One of the challenges with building a U-20 roster is getting players released by their clubs. Under the rules, clubs must voluntarily release players for youth World Cups and this can be very difficult. As this age, top U-20 players begin taking on bigger responsibilities with their clubs and letting players go is a sacrifice.

But this tournament is even harder because it takes place during both the beginning of the European season and the end of the MLS season where teams are in a playoff push.

Despite that, Mitrovic was able to secure almost his entire core.

MLS teams proved to be extremely cooperative. For example, Real Salt Lake is on bubble for the playoffs and is in a tight race. But they agreed to release one of their most in-form players in Zavier Gozo.

Similarly, Houston is also only two points out of the postseason but agreed to release Brooklyn Raines, who has been a regular starter for the Dynamo since April.

But MLS teams who are safely in the playoffs but are now pushing for seeding also cooperated. Frankie Westfield joined from Philadelphia where he has been on pace for a 2000+ minute season. Luca Bombino is a starter for San Diego, who are in the mix for the top seed, and he was allowed to go. Taha Habroune was also released despite seeing his minutes at Columbus increase since the summer.

In Europe, Mitrovic also had a lot of success in getting his top players. Cole Campbell isn’t a regular yet with Borussia Dortmund but he made his season debut last weekend and is typically always on the first-team bench.

Benja Cremaschi also made the roster and this was perhaps the most surprising roster inclusion. Cremaschi only joined his new club, Parma in Italy’s Serie A, on loan from Inter Miami just before the close of the transfer window. Despite that, Cremaschi has been given clearance to play in this tournament.

This was a team that played well throughout the U-20 cycle and Mitrovic was able to secure almost every player he wanted. It was a good effort by him, excellent cooperation with all MLS clubs as well as most European teams.

Notable omissions

While the roster is strong, there are some absences worth discussing.

Noahkai Banks: The Augsburg central defender was called up to the USMNT camp in September and while he didn’t play, it was a telling sign that he was moving beyond the U-20 team. He even told the media that it was unlikely he was going to play at the U-20 World Cup because Augsburg wanted him for Bundesliga games. He’s one of the top American players of his age group, U.S. Soccer rates him as such, but his omission from this team was expected.

Matai Akinmboni: The Bournemouth central defender has been injured. He was called up to the U.S. U-20 camp earlier this month to assess where he was in his recovery. At that point he hadn’t played in four months. Ultimately it was decided by both U.S. Soccer and Bournemouth that he was not ready for the World Cup.

Julian Eyestone and Gavin Beavers: Two of the better goalkeepers were left off this roster but they likely would have been backups to Diego Kochen. Instead, Eyestone will remain at Brentford and Beavers will be at Brondby.

Sergio Oregel: The Chicago Fire midfielder sees regular minutes with his club team, which is in the middle of a tight playoff push. It’s not clear if this was Mitrovic’s decision to leave him off or if Chicago elected to keep him for the remaining games.

Team’s strengths/weaknesses

Every U-20 team is different in terms of strengths and weaknesses and here is how this team likes to play.

Attacking from wide positions: This U.S. U-20 team is strong at both fullback positions and both wing positions. Cole Campbell is one of the fastest, if not the fastest, player at this U-20 World Cup. He should be very difficult to defend on this level. On the opposite wing, you have Luke Brennan who developed with Campbell during their early teenage years with Atlanta United. Brennan has been good for this team during the cycle.

At fullbacks, Frankie Westfield has been one of the top U-20 players in MLS this season and Luca Bombino hasn’t been far off. On top of that, there is Peyton Miller who is playing up this cycle and brings both speed and the versatility to play left back or left wing.

The speed and attacking ability this team has out wide is very impressive.

Central defense: This U.S. team has been very good in central defense all cycle but will have to play without two of its top options in Banks and Akinmboni. Mitrovic seems well prepared for this as other options such as Noah Cobb and Ethan Kohler have been at most camps this cycle.

The No. 9: When Mitrovic was the Olympic coach, he brought only one center forward in Duncan McGuire and then had to play with a “false nine” when McGuire wasn’t there. In the last U-20 cycle, then head coach Mikey Varas also only brought one center forward (Darren Yapi) and had to play without a center forward most of the time. It is the same thing here. There is just once center forward in Marcos Zambrano. After him, the team has to play without a big physical presence up top.