Saturday, January 10, 2015

Where Are They Now? The 2005 USMNT U-20s

It's been 10 years since the 2005 CONCACAF U-20 tournament, let's take a look at that squad that clinched a World Cup berth and see how everyone ended up. The U.S. won all three of their matches that year beating Trinidad and Tobago 6-1, Panama 2-0, and Costa Rica 2-0. You've probably heard of some of these guys...

Keepers

Quentin Westberg - Born in France, Westberg has played professionally for Troyes, Évian, and Luzenac AP. He's appeared in nearly 100 matches in his professional career, but is currently a free agent. Although he got some run with the youth national teams, he never broke into the rotation of what has always been a very deep goalkeeper pool at the Senior team level.
Andrew Kartunen - Drafted with the 53rd pick in 2008 out of Stanford by the Kansas City Wizards, Kartunen never panned out in MLS as Kansas City had Kevin Hartman ahead of him that year.

Defenders

Hunter Freeman - Freeman spent parts of six seasons with four different clubs in MLS logging over 100 starts in his career. In addition to his time in MLS, Freeman also did a brief stint in Norway with IK Start. He currently plays for the New York Cosmos of the NASL.
Marvell Wynne - Wynne will start 2015 with the San Jose Earthquakes after spending the last five seasons as a starter in Colorado. He's logged 200 career starts in MLS and has 5 appearances with the Senior National Team. Wynne won an MLS Cup with Colorado in 2010.
Pat Phelan - A former first round pick by Toronto FC, Phelan spent four seasons with the New England Revolution logging over 50 starts. He then spent a season in Finland with SJK before coming back to the U.S. and spending a year with the San Antonio Scorpions. He retired from professional football after the 2013 season.
Greg Dalby - Currently an assistant coach at his alma mater Notre Dame, Dalby appeared in just 14 matches in MLS before finishing his career in the USL. Dalby was the captain of the U-20s.
Tim Ward - Ward appeared with 5 different clubs in his 8 year MLS career logging over 60 starts. Despite extensive youth national team call-ups between 2002 and 2007, Ward never panned out at the higher levels.

Midfielders

Patrick Ianni - Currently a free agent, Ianni appeared in 12 matches for the Chicago Fire in 2014. He's 2 starts shy of 100 for a career that's seen him play for Houston and Seattle in addition to the Fire. Ianni was the 8th overall pick of the 2006 MLS SuperDraft.
Sacha Kljestan - Kljestan has had success in MLS with Chivas USA, in Europe with Anderlecht making numerous Champions League appearances, and internationally with Team USA scoring 4 goals in 46 CAPs including a hat trick versus Sweden in a 2009 friendly. Kljestan is reportedly being shopped by Anderlecht with the possibility of a return to MLS this year.
Benny Feilhaber - Feilhaber scored the winning goal at the 2007 Gold Cup, was a member of the 2010 World Cup Team and has logged over 40 CAPs and scored a pair of goals for the U.S. Feilhaber is going to start his 5th MLS season this year and third with Sporting Kansas City. He won an MLS Cup in 2013.
Arturo Alvarez - Alvarez began his career in MLS scoring 24 goals and starting over 100 matches between 2003 and 2010. Despite his time with the U.S. Youth National Teams, he never received a call up to the senior squad so he instead declared for El Salvador for whom he's notched three goals in 29 appearances including a pair of goals in 2014.
Eddie Gaven - Gaven, now 28, retired after the 2013 season, his 11th in MLS. In 278 matches he scored 51 goals and dished out 37 assists. He made 8 appearances for the U.S. between 2004 and 2010.
Danny Szetela - Szetela scored three goals at the 2005 U-20 World Cup, but he appeared in just 38 games in 5 MLS seasons. He now plays alongside Hunter Freeman with the New York Cosmos.

Forwards

Chad Barrett - Barrett is getting ready to begin his 11th season in MLS after a successful first year in Seattle where he scored 7 goals despite making just 8 starts. He has earned just one CAP with the U.S., back in 2008, but has won two U.S. Open Cups and an MLS Cup with LA back in 2011.
Freddy Adu - Once thought to be the heir apparent of American Soccer, Adu, now 25, finds himself without a contract having most recently been let go by Jagodina of the Serbian SuperLiga. Adu last appeared in MLS with the Philadelphia Union in 2012. Adu was on the U.S.'s Gold Cup roster back in 2011 and has scored for the U.S. twice in his career.
Will John - After an unsuccessful stint in MLS, John took his talents overseas playing professionally in Denmark, Serbia, Croatia, Azerbaijan and now Morocco.
Jacob Peterson - Peterson now plays alongside Benny Feilhaber with Sporting Kansas City as he gets ready for his 10th MLS season. He's one match short of 200 for his career, but never received a call-up to the Senior National Team.
Charlie Davies - Once one of the U.S.'s brightest young stars, an unfortunate car accident set Davies back significantly. He missed the 2010 World Cup and hasn't been called back to the National Team since then. He appears to be getting back on track though with New England as his 4 goals in 5 postseason matches carried the Revs all the way to the MLS Finals.

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