The U.S. U-23 team takes on Mexico’s U-23 side tomorrow night at FC Dallas Stadium in Frisco, TX (10:00 ET, Univision), and now that West Ham midfielder Sebastian Lletget and Hoffenheim striker Joe Gyau have joined the team, coach Caleb Porter’s roster is complete and his players are ready to go.
The 19-year-old Gyau—the son of former U.S. national team player Philip Gyau and the grandson of former Ghana national teamer Joseph—joined Hoffenheim’s U-19 team in the summer of 2010 and has shot quickly through the ranks. He made his first-team debut on Feb 8.
Lletget—whose name is pronounced “Le-GETT,” not “Le-JETT” as in the clip below (come on, US Soccer, he’s one of your own players)—left the U.S. U-17 setup in 2008 to join West Ham’s academy in London. He too has risen through the ranks and is close to a breakthrough with the first team.
Here they are, along with DC United defender Perry Kitchen (who turns 20—or is it 5?*—on game day), talking about tomorrow’s match:
Below is Porter’s complete roster for this final tuneup before Olympic qualifying starts next month:
GOALKEEPERS: Bill Hamid (D.C. United; Annandale, Va.), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire; Lilburn, Ga.)
DEFENDERS: Greg Garza (Club Tijuana; Grapevine, Texas), Perry Kitchen (D.C. United; Indianapolis, Ind.), Alfredo Morales (Hertha Berlin; Berlin, Germany), Ike Opara (San Jose Earthquakes; Durham, N.C.), Kofi Sarkodie (Houston Dynamo; Huber Heights, Ohio), Zarek Valentin (Montreal Impact; Lancaster, Pa.), Jorge Villafaña (Chivas USA; Anaheim, Calif.)
MIDFIELDERS: Joe Corona (Club Tijuana; Chula Vista, Calif.), Mix Diskerud (Gent; Oslo, Norway), Dilly Duka (Columbus Crew; Montville, N.J.), Jared Jeffrey (Mainz; Richardson, Texas), Sebastian Lletget (West Ham United; San Francisco, Calif), Amobi Okugo (Philadelphia Union; Sacramento, Calif.), Michael Stephens (LA Galaxy; Naperville, Ill.)
FORWARDS: Freddy Adu (Philadelphia Union; Potomac, Md.), Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls; Barnegat, N.J.), Teal Bunbury (Sporting Kansas City; Prior Lake, Minn.), Joe Gyau (Hoffenheim: Silver Spring, Md.), Jack McInerney (Philadelphia Union; Alpharetta, Ga.), Tony Taylor (Estoril Praia; Jacksonville, Fla.)
*Match is set for Feb 29, aka Leap Day.
Bonus footage of Gyau, at 15, lighting up opponents with the U.S. U-17s:
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