Pick a part

It's tough for me to judge the U20 roster that Thomas Rongen has picked for qualifying. This time the training camp was based in Florida, not LA, so I haven't been out to see the players train. I remember how in the last cycle, Sigi Schmid was criticized for putting two UCLA guys that not a lot of people knew about - Benny Feilhaber and Marvell Wynne - on his roster.
Those picks pushed others out, including MLS players like Arturo Alvarez, Michael Bradley, and Memo Gonzalez.
Of course, Benny and Marvell came out in the qualifying tournament, also held in LA, and looked great. Still, one has to wonder if part of the reason they did well was because they were in their backyard, so to speak, and that extra boost of feeling confident and comfortable helped. Yet they both also did really well in Holland at the World Cup, not to mention have gone on to good pro careers.
Whereas Memo Gonzalez did not. On the other hand, Alvarez and Bradley have. It's a gamble of sorts. I'm waiting for the qualifying games to see if Rongen is proven right.
Some of the players bypassed this round were surprising, like Dax McCarty or Tony Beltran being left off, but I do believe in late bloomers who come on strong in training camp. Schmid said in the last cycle that some pro players waltzed into camp expecting their spots, not really pushing hard in practice games. I don't know if that happened this time, but hunger and drive count for a lot.
Rongen had an interesting statement about the changing fortunes of U20 players that I couldn't really fit into any of my other articles about the U20's, so I've put it here.

"For us to think that every U15 will become a U17 national team player, that every 17 team player will become a U20 player and that every U20 player will become a U23 is wrong. This is what happens in the rest of the world. Some of the better ones will continue to make teams. Some will fall by the wayside. If you look at the last U17 group, the starting goalkeeper (Bryant Rueckner) isn’t here, (Kyle) Nakazawa isn’t here, the Farfan brothers (Gabe and Michael) aren’t here, (Ryan) Soroka isn’t here. Those are guys who were starting players for that team who are being bypassed right now by some other players. Some 89’s that weren’t part of the last U17 cycle have bypassed some of the other players. That’s normal. That’s the way it should be."