HARRISON, NJ (March 12, 2012) – New York Red Bulls forward Juan Agudelo has been called up by the United States Under-23 Men’s National Team for its training camp to begin final preparations for the 2012 CONCACAF Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The 20-player roster will be finalized March 20, the due date for all participating teams to submit their rosters to CONCACAF. The U.S. will compete in Group A which kicks off March 22 at LP Field in Nashville, Tenn. As a result, Agudelo will be unavailable for the Red Bulls’ next match on Saturday, March 17 at Real Salt Lake.
The U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team begins the qualifying tournament on Thursday, March 22 when it takes on Cuba. The team will also face Canada on Saturday, March 24 and El Salvador on Monday, March 26, wrapping up play in Group A. All three group matches will take place at LP Field in Nashville, TN.
If the U.S. advances past the group stage, it will play in a semifinal match, with a berth in the Olympics on the line, on Saturday, March 31 at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park in Kansas City, KS. The championship match will take place on Monday, April 2.
Agudelo has earned 15 caps for the senior United States National Team, scoring two goals. He became the youngest player to ever score for the senior National Team, when he notched the game winning goal in his international debut on Nov. 17, 2010 against South Africa. Most recently, Agudelo featured in a friendly for the U-23s, scoring the game-winning goal in a 2-0 victory over Mexico on Feb. 29. The 19-year-old Agudelo is currently in his third season with the Red Bulls. He has played in 30 regular season games, starting 13, and has scored six goals and added two assists over his career. Agudelo started and played all 90 minutes in the team’s season-opening 2-1 loss to FC Dallas last Sunday.
U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team Training Roster By Position
GOALKEEPERS (2): Bill Hamid (D.C. United; Annandale, Va.), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire; Lilburn, Ga.)
DEFENDERS (6): Josh Gatt (Molde; Plymouth, Mich.), Perry Kitchen (D.C. United; Indianapolis, Ind.), 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 (5): Joe Corona (Club Tijuana; Chula Vista, Calif.), Mix Diskerud (Gent; Oslo, Norway), Jared Jeffrey (Mainz; Richardson, Texas), Amobi Okugo (Philadelphia Union; Sacramento, Calif.), Michael Stephens (LA Galaxy; Naperville, Ill.)
FORWARDS (6): Freddy Adu (Philadelphia Union; Potomac, Md.), Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls; Barnegat, N.J.), Terrence Boyd (Borussia Dortmund; Berlin, Germany), Teal Bunbury (Sporting Kansas City; Prior Lake, Minn.), Joe Gyau (Hoffenheim: Silver Spring, Md.), Brek Shea (FC Dallas; Bryan, Texas)
