WHEN THE RECENT January camp for the United States U-20 team got underway last month, it was a big opportunity for Freddie Anderson. The central defender from Stoke City was making his debut for the Stars & Stripes only shortly after acquiring his first American passport.

Born and raised in England, many people there know Anderson through his father, Viv Anderson, who was an established player with England’s national team and who played with several top clubs including Nottingham Forest, Arsenal, and Manchester United.

But the younger Anderson is trying to chart his own course. He is now developing at his club, Stoke City, and will spend the 2025 on loan with Cork City in the Irish Premier Division. Freddie and Viv have a very close bond and even with Freddie playing for a different country, his father was equally excited for the opportunity for his son to play for the United States.

“I always say my dad is one of the most important figures in my footballing career,” Anderson told American Soccer Now from the U.S. U-20 team’s January camp. “He gives me lots of tips and advice and you can't really argue with him when he tells you something. He's been there and he's done it. But he's also very wary to not try and clash with what the coaches say. He'll always ask me first, what the coaches are telling me and if I know why they're telling me that. Then he'll give his own expertise on what he thinks as well - and why. But he always tries not to clash with what the coach is telling me because he understands that they're doing it for a bigger picture.”

“He only wants what's best for me and we both agree this is the best opportunity for me at the minute,” he added. “And he was really happy when I got called up and he was almost as happy as me.”

The current United States U-20 team has shown a lot of promise throughout this cycle and have already qualified for the 2025 U-20 World Cup, which will begin in September. In recent months, the team has defeated France, Chile, and South Korea. Breaking into that team will be difficult and Anderson realizes that. This team is far deeper in central defense than in recent U-20 cycles with Benfica’s Josh Wynder, Augsburg’s Noahkai Banks, and Bournemouth’s Matai Akinmboni leading the way and others such Atlanta United’s Noah Cobb and Bayern Munich’s Grayson Dettoni also in the picture. Of these five defenders, only Dettoni was released by his club to play in the January camp.

But at camp Anderson was impressed with the U.S. team’s level and the style of play under head coach Marko Mitrovic where he says central defenders are expected to be “brave on the ball” and to drive a high line.

“I wasn't really sure what to expect going into it,” Anderson said. “But I was really impressed with everything. It felt really professional. Everything is done to the highest level. Whatever I was expecting, it's definitely blown it out of the water. The play is really good. There's lots of talented player, especially in this camp. I only knew Keyrol Figueroa coming in. I played against him one or two times before in England. My main takeaway is that there are talented lads here and hopefully this team can do some great things.”

“Obviously, it's not easy coming into a group where the lads have known each other for quite a long time and they've been in multiple camps with each other before,” he continued. “But I found the lot have been really welcoming and I found it easier to make friends. I settled into the group pretty well. It's been quite a smooth transition.. I think Marko is a really good coach. He's really intense and he gives very little good details in his instructions, which I really like.”

Anderson’s call-up wasn’t surprising to him as he was aware the federation was scouting him and was waiting for him to finally obtain his American passport. His citizenship stems from his American mother, and he has visited the United States multiple times with his grandfather still living in Virginia. He also holds Jamaican citizenship.

When asked about how he knew U.S. Soccer knew about him in the first place, he says “I don't actually know, to be honest” but believes it was through family reaching out.

“It's a weird one,” Anderson said of the process of joining the U.S. setup. “I've known I've been eligible to play with them for a while. Obviously you can’t play unless you've got a passport. Only this past year I got around to getting it all done. I had a few meetings with some people at U.S. Soccer, and I told them that my passport was done. That's when they said they could watch me a bit more closely and choose if they want to select me for a camp. Obviously, it happened for me and I'm really grateful. I've been on the on the fringes with England and been called up to Jamaica before, so I was hoping to get called up because the setup with U.S. Soccer is amazing. It's a great country which is hopefully going to go on to do some great things at big tournaments.”

Moving forward, Anderson faces a big upcoming season in the Irish Premier Division with Cork City. His season at Stoke City was going well with the U-18 and U-21 teams, but ultimately the club felt he was ready for a loan that would introduce him to regular first team minutes.

The high point for him professionally came earlier this season when he earned the start for Stoke City in a Carabao Cup match away against Carlisle United. In that game which was his professional debut, Anderson scored in the 48^th minute to open the scoring of a 2-0 win.

“It's my first season breaking into the first team,” Anderson said. “I made my debut in all 17. I think I was the youngest goal scorer for Stoke post 1960s. I scored on my debut, which was amazing. After that I was back with the U-21's, which is amazing being the captain. It's a learning curve. Obviously, we're playing in a tough league, so we played against top players every week, so I'm developing every game.”

Making the World Cup team will be difficult, but the new start date for the tournament in late September likely means that many players might not be released. That will likely force Mitrovic to have a much larger player pool than previous U-20 cycles and there could be instances where he has to dig deeper.

“Obviously, everyone here wants to be in that final team that goes to the World Cup,” Anderson said of the U-20 World Cup. “I'll say to me personally, I really want to go to that. It would be big and it would be a great experience, especially this only being my first camp. Hopefully fingers crossed. I'll give it my best and we'll see what happens.”