United States under-23 manager Jason Kreis has named his 20-man roster that will attempt to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games.
The roster is comprised of 10 players with experience at senior level and 12 who have represented the U.S. at a youth World Cup. Fifteen players are MLS-based with the remainder coming from abroad. The Olympic qualifying tournament is limited to players born on or after Jan. 1, 1997.
The roster is headlined by FC Dallas defender Reggie Cannon, San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Jackson Yueill, FC Dallas midfielder Jesus Ferreira and Wolfsburg attacker Ulysses Llanez. Llanez scored on his debut for the U.S in last month's 1-0 win over Costa Rica. Ferreira also made his U.S. debut in that match after recently becoming eligible to represent the United States.
"For the Olympics, it's been a few cycles now since we've [qualified]," Kreis told Fox Sports on Sunday. "And so we look at this as a terrific opportunity to fix things, to correct things. We believe that as a country, the U.S. should be qualifying for the Olympics every single time so it's an opportunity for us to set the record straight."
Aiming to qualify for the Olympics for the first time since the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the U.S. has been drawn into a difficult group that contains both Mexico and Costa Rica, as well as the Dominican Republic. The U.S. opens the tournament on March 20 against the Ticos, followed by a match against the Dominican Republic three days later. Kreis' side will then conclude the group stage against rivals Mexico on March 26. All of the matches will take place in Guadalajara.
The top two finishers in each group will advance to the semifinals on March 30, with the winners of those matches qualifying for Tokyo. The final -- which will be for nothing more than bragging rights -- is scheduled for April 1.
Full U.S. roster for the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship (Club; Hometown)
GOALKEEPERS (3): Matt Freese (Philadelphia Union; Wayne, Pa.), JT Marcinkowski (San Jose Earthquakes; Alamo, Calif.), David Ochoa (Real Salt Lake; Oxnard, Calif.)
DEFENDERS (6): Reggie Cannon (FC Dallas; Grapevine, Texas), Justen Glad (Real Salt Lake; Tucson, Ariz.), Chris Gloster (PSV Eindhoven/NED; Montclair, N.J.), Aaron Herrera (Real Salt Lake; Las Cruces, N.M.), Mark McKenzie (Philadelphia Union; Bear, Del.), Erik Palmer-Brown (Austria Wien/AUT; Lee's Summit, Mo.)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Brenden Aaronson (Philadelphia Union; Medford, N.J.), Hassani Dotson (Minnesota United; Federal Way, Wash.), Richard Ledezma (PSV Eindhoven/NED; Phoenix, Ariz.), Djordje Mihailovic (Chicago Fire; Lemont, Ill.), Paxton Pomykal (FC Dallas; Highland Village, Texas), Jackson Yueill (San Jose Earthquakes; Bloomington, Minn.)
FORWARDS (5): Jeremy Ebobisse (Portland Timbers; Bethesda, Md.), Jesús Ferreira (FC Dallas; McKinney, Texas), Jonathan Lewis (Colorado Rapids; Plantation, Fla.), Ulysses Llanez (Wolfsburg/GER; Lynwood, Calif.), Sebastian Saucedo (UNAM Pumas/MEX; Park City, Utah)