Friday, June 15, 2007

USA's Under-20 Hopefuls and Request for the Speed Golfer

So we all saw that Dominic "Birdman" Oduro crushed Real Salt Lake's hopes for their first MLS win of the season. It was Oduro's 2nd of the season. What I want to know and please someone help me...

Who was that dude speed-driving in the small clip of Thursday night's half-time that ESPN aired? 98 golf balls in one minute. That is amazing and it blew me away...couldn't find him on YouTube, but then again, what the hell would I search for?


GOALKEEPERS (3): Brian Perk (UCLA), Steve Sandbo (SMU), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)

DEFENDERS (6): Tony Beltran (UCLA), Amaechi Igwe (New England Revolution), Ofori Sarkodie (Indiana University), Nathan Sturgis (Columbus Crew), Julian Valentin (Wake Forest), Tim Ward (Columbus Crew)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Freddy Adu (Real Salt Lake), Bryan Arguez (D.C. United), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Dax McCarty (F.C. Dallas), Danny Szetela (Columbus Crew), Anthony Wallace (F.C. Dallas)

FORWARDS (6): Andre Akpan (Harvard), Josmer Altidore (N.Y. Red Bulls), Gabriel Ferrari (Sampdoria), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), Johann Smith (Bolton F.C.), Sal Zizzo (UCLA)

Three UCLA boys and an Ivy Leaguer join established young'uns Altidore, Adu, and Smith in probably the best U-20 squad the United States has ever assembled. Thomas Rongen has plenty of weapons to lead the charge but his greatest asset is the depth at each position. Altidore and Smith are complemented well by Ferrari, Zizzo, and Rogers, while in the midfield Arguez and Wallace can stand-in (although not MLS tested yet) for the probable four of Bradley, Adu, McCarty, and Szetela. Overall, this will be a fun one and for all the UCLA boys - if performances are up to standard, the pros will come a-knockin' whether across the pond or domestically.

I will be in Ottawa on July 6th for the USA vs. Brazil match-up and my hope is to give an in-depth report on it. I won't have press access (unless someone wants to get me it), but I will have clearance for their upcoming friendly vs. Chile on July 23rd. I will try and gauge their thoughts and expectations then. On the way should also be an in-depth preview of the competition.

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