AFTER SUCCESSFULLY qualifying for the 2025 U-20 World Cup this past summer, Marko Mitrovic has been named as the head coach of the team moving forward. On Friday, Mitrovic named his first roster for the team’s October camp in Chile. This comes a day after Michael Nsien named his U-19 roster for that team’s camp in Spain.

The decision to go with Mitrovic is twofold. He is coming off a relatively successful stint with the U.S. Olympic team that saw them advance out of the group stage but lose to Morocco in the quarterfinal. But more importantly, Mitrovic was previously the head coach of the U.S. U-19 team that featured many of the players on this team – including Benja Cremaschi and Josh Wynder who are expected to be leaders of this squad.

For this upcoming camp, the U.S. team will travel to Santiago, Chile for a pair of games against Chile. This is a strategic choice for Mitrovic, and U.S. Soccer as Chile will be the hosts of the 2025 U-20 World Cup. The games will take place on October 12 and October 15 at Complejo Deportivo Quilin, Chile’s national training center.

Here is a look at the roster along with some thoughts.

U.S.  U-20 roster for October

Goalkeepers (2): Gavin Beavers (Real Salt Lake; Henderson, Nev.), Julian Eyestone (Brentford/ENG; Dallas, Texas)

Defenders (7): Noahkai Banks (Augsburg/GER; Dietmannsried, Germany), Noah Cobb (Atlanta United FC; Chattanooga, Tenn.), Leo Duru (Blackburn Rovers/ENG; Manchester, England), Ethan Kohler (Werder Bremen/GER; Campbell, Calif.), Nolan Norris (FC Dallas; Fort Worth, Texas), Oscar Verhoeven (San Jose Earthquakes; Pleasant Hill, Calif.), Joshua Wynder (Benfica/POR; Louisville, Ky.)

Midfielders (7): Benjamin Cremaschi (Inter Miami CF; Key Biscayne, Fla.), Taha Habroune (Columbus Crew; Columbus, Ohio), Bryan Moyado (Los Angeles FC; La Puente, Calif.), Sergio Oregel Jr. (Chicago Fire FC; Chicago, Ill.), Brooklyn Raines (Houston Dynamo FC; Chicago, Ill.), Pedro Soma (Barcelona/ESP; Coconut Creek, Fla.), Niko Tsakiris (San Jose Earthquakes; Saratoga, Calif.)

Forwards (6): Reed Baker-Whiting (Seattle Sounders FC; Seattle, Wash.), Luke Brennan (Atlanta United FC; Atlanta, Ga.), Aidan Dausch (Coventry City/ENG; London, England), Peyton Miller (New England Revolution; Unionville, Conn.), Ruben Ramos Jr. (LA Galaxy; La Puente, Calif.), Marcos Zambrano (Vitoria Guimaraes/POR; Gladwyne, Penn.)

Roster Thoughts

Compared with the team that Michael Nsien took to qualifying, Marko Mitrovic has a much stronger squad.

Josh Wynder returns to the team after a bout with injuries. He played up a cycle and was the starter at the 2023 U-20 World Cup. He is a potential captain of this team. Benja Cremaschi rejoins this team after he was the only player on the Olympic team this past summer who was playing up a cycle. Neither player has been part of the U-20 team this cycle, until now.

Mitrovic also went to England for a pair of prospects who are both earning their first U.S. call-up to any age group.

Aidan Dausch is a forward who has already made two appearances with Coventry’s first team last season but has been with the club’s U-21 team to start this season where he is their top offensive option. Dausch was born in London and is the son of two American parents.

Leo Duru is an athletic right back who is also eligible for Nigeria and England. He currently is at Blackburn and made his first team debut on August 31 as a late game sub in a 1-1 draw with Burnley.

There are also several players who have spent considerable time with U.S. youth national teams but were not released due to first team obligations.

Goalkeeper Gavin Beavers could contend to be the starter for the team depending on Diego Kochen’s availability. But he was starting games for Real Salt Lake during qualifying and did not attend.

Reed Baker-Whiting is also a likely starter for this group and has been gradually playing more minutes with the Seattle Sounders.

Noahkai Banks has been progressing nicely at Augsburg in Germany and he should bolster the backline.

There is also the addition of Peyton Miller who has shown a ton of promise with the New England Revolution at left back (despite being listed as a forward by U.S. Soccer). He is also one of the youngest players on this roster and is one of only two players who is playing up a cycle (the other being Ruben Ramos Jr.).

Peyton Miller makes a big tackle then draws a foul.

His reward is a well-deserved chest bump from Alhassan Yusuf. #NERevs pic.twitter.com/pEPVvim42t

— Seth (@SethMan31) September 29, 2024

This is very close to the best possible U-20 team at this point. There are still some players missing, mostly due to injuries. Barcelona’s Diego Kochen is likely the starting goalkeeper and he has been involved with U.S. youth teams for years. Matai Akinmboni is still missing games with DC United due to an ankle injury. Finally, Cole Campbell was a breakout star for the U.S. U-20 team earlier in the year after completing his one-time switch from Iceland. But he spent the preseason with Borussia Dortmund and hasn’t been able to play with the U-20 team since.

It’s still a good team for Mitrovic who unfortunately has seen three of the best players for this age group leave the program for other countries. Obed Vargas left for Mexico. Esmir Bajraktarevic is now playing for Bosnia. Noel Buck was born and raised in Massachusetts but has elected to play for England’s youth teams (although unlike Vargas and Bajraktarevic, he has the ability to switch back).

Overall, it was a good roster for Mitrovic who should be able to learn a lot about his team from this camp.

U-19 roster for Valencia camp

The U.S. U-19 team is led by Michael Nsien. They will travel to Valencia in Spain for friendlies against Sweden on Oct. 11 and Japan on Oct. 15.

Goalkeepers (2): Duran Ferree (FC Nordsjaelland/DEN; San Diego, Calif.), Andrew Rick (Philadelphia Union; Berwyn, Pa.)

Defenders (6): Andrew Baiera (New York City FC; Darien, Conn.), Stuart Hawkins (Seattle Sounders FC; Fox Island, Wash.), Harbor Miller (LA Galaxy; Brea, Calif.), Neil Pierre (Philadelphia Union; Hersey, Pa.), Tahir Reid-Brown (Orlando City SC; Orlando, Fla.), Chibuike Ukaegbu (Sacramento Republic FC; Roseville, Calif.)

Midfielders (6): Colin Guske (Orlando City SC; Saint Johns, Fla.), Cruz Medina (San Jose Earthquakes; San Francisco, Calif.), Paulo Rudisill (Feyenoord/NED; Irvine, Calif.), Ervin Torres (Austin FC; Laredo, Texas), David Vazquez (Philadelphia Union; Los Angeles, Calif.), Nathan Worth (Tampa Bay Rowdies; Chester, N.J.)

Forwards (6): Nimfasha Berchimas (Charlotte FC; High Point, N.C.), Jykese Fields (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim/GER; Heidelberg, Germany), Keyrol Figueroa (Liverpool/ENG; Warrington, England), Zavier Gozo (Real Salt Lake; Eagle Mountain, Utah), Mykhi Joyner (St. Louis City SC; Bloomington, Ill.), Dino Klapija (RB Leipzig/GER; New York City, N.Y.)

Roster thoughts

It is particularly interesting to see that there were seven players who were on the U-20 World Cup qualifying team shift down to the U-19 team for this camp. Nimfasha Berchimas is still very young and is eligible for the U-17 team (again). The U-20 team always seemed ambitious in this cycle. Keyrol Figueroa is also a big name given how important he was to the U-17 team last cycle and his start with the U-20 team. He wasn’t as sharp as was expected at the U-20 qualifiers and this might help him regain his confidence while allowing the U-20 team to explore other options.

Dino Klapija is now on the books at RB Leipzig and he remains a player to watch with other national team options. He has played for Croatian youth national teams in the past.

There are several talented players on tis team, but if players want to make a case to push to the U-20’s ahead of next summer’s World Cup, it’s important that they have a strong camp this window before Mitrovic begins solidifying his core group.