LANDON DONOVAN COACHES U.S. YOUTH NATIONAL ID CAMP U16s

U16 Boys’ National Team Talent Identification Training Camp

59 players from across U.S. Soccer’s three main scouting regions (East, Central, and West) came together for the ID Training camp from Sept. 19-23 at the Elite Athlete Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif.

Southern California has always been a hotbed of youth soccer. With tremendous facilities and great, year-round weather, the Los Angeles and San Diego areas are often the home to training camps.

Fifty-nine players from U.S. Soccer’s three main scouting regions (East, Central, and West) recently came to Southern California for a special talent ID camp. Players participated in games against youth squads from Club Tijuana and LA Galaxy.

U.S. Soccer Director of Talent Identification, Tony Lepore was on hand at the training camp, U.S. Youth National Team’s U16 Boys’ in Chula Vista, California, for the five-day program – and the squad of Men’s National Team hopefuls was joined by Landon Donovan.

U.S. Men’s National Team legend Donovan was the coach for the East Select squad and Crisitano Scapolo and Larry Sunderland returned to the U16 BNT staff after coaching the team to victory at May’s UEFA Development Tournament in the Czech Republic.

As reported by MLS Soccer, Donovan, who has the MLS MVP award named after him, had 144 goals and 136 assists throughout his career with the Galaxy and San Jose Earthquakes. He also won six MLS Cups, two Supporters’ Shields, and one U.S. Open Cup.

For the US men’s national team, Donovan is second on the all-time caps list (157) behind Cobi Jones and tied with Clint Dempsey for the most goals (57) in the program’s history.

Now, Donovan’s focus has turned to his USL team launching in San Diego in 2020 and to coaching players. His goal? To ever improve the quality of soccer in America and develop players who can compete successfully on the world stage … at least those are two of the lofty goals held by San Diego’s proud homeowner.

Throughout the years, Donovan has encouraged youth players to be their best and participated in coaching talented youths.

The current U-16 roster, led by U.S. Soccer Director of Talent Identification Tony Lepore, includes 51 players from MLS academies. Another, Inter Miami CF youth goalkeeper Andres Zuluaga, will join those ranks soon.

The program is comprehensive, complete with a sport scientist who educated players on best practices for nutrition and recovery.

U-16 BNT TALENT ID CAMP ROSTER BY POSITION with CLUB

GOALKEEPERS (6): Andrew Cordes (Colorado Rapids), Lucas Hatsios (Charlotte Independence), Gavin Krenecki (Sporting Kansas City), Andrew Noel (New York Red Bulls), Anthony Ramos (LA Galaxy), Andres Zuluaga (Inter Miami CF)

DEFENDERS (19): Adrian Aguilar (LA Galaxy), Prince Amponsah (New York City FC), Justin Che (FC Dallas), Kyle Genenbacher (Saint Louis FC), Jonathan Gomez (FC Dallas), Jacob Greene (D.C. United), Noah Hall (Columbus Crew SC), Sebastian Hernandez (LA Galaxy), Issac Homer (Portland Timbers), Dylan Hooper (Sporting Kansas City), Dante Huckaby (Philadelphia Union), Eric Kinzner (Seattle Sounders FC), Adam Lundegard (D.C. United), Jalen Neal (LA Galaxy), Ralph Orquin (Club America/MEX), Kayden Pierre (Sporting Kansas City), Anthony Sorenson (Philadelphia Union), Kobe Stoup (Atlanta United FC), Casey Walls (San Jose Earthquakes)

MIDFIELDERS (16): Paxten Aaronson (Philadelphia Union), Alejandro Alvarado (LA Galaxy), Javier Casas (Chicago Fire), Elton Chifamaba (Columbus Crew SC), Gerardo Duran (Portland Timbers), Daniel Edelman (Players Development Academy), Jeremy Garay (D.C. United),  Brian Gutierrez (Chicago Fire), Anthony Hernandez (Columbus Crew SC), Sota Kitahara (Seattle Sounders FC), Jack McGlynn (Philadelphia Union), Abel Mendoza (Real Salt Lake), Moses Nyeman (D.C. United), Nicholas Pariano (Philadelphia Union), Daniel Rios (Houston Dynamo), Edgar Serrano (Seattle Sounders FC)

FORWARDS (18): Ronald Arevalo (Cedar Stars Academy – Bergen), Caden Clark (Barca Academy), Christopher Garcia (Real Salt Lake), Arnold Giron (Los Angeles Football Club), Mauricio Gutierrez (Beach FC), Agnes Patrick Kader (Philadelphia Union), Selmir Miscic (Philadelphia Union), Alex Monis (Chicago Fire), Kevin Paredes (D.C. United), Matthew Roou (Shattuck-Saint Mary’s), Samuel Sarver (Columbus Crew SC), Dante Sealy (FC Dallas), Collin Smith (FC Dallas), Thomas Tulgar (New York Red Bulls), Aidan Wolf (Columbus Crew SC), Tyler Wolff (Atlanta United FC), Darren Yapi (Colorado Rapids), Brandon Zelaya (San Jose Earthquakes)