NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Team captain Freddy Adu and senior squad regulars Juan Agudelo and Brek Shea highlight the 20 players named by Caleb Porter on Tuesday evening to represent the United States in the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying men's tournament.
The semifinal winners of the eight-team tourney receive a berth in this summer's London Games.
Among the 14 players from Major League Soccer are D.C. United's Bill Hamid and Perry Kitchen, Ika Opara from the San Jose Earthquakes and Sporting Kansas City's Teal Bunbury.
The European contingent features Borussia Dortmund's Terrence Boyd – who earned his first full team cap in the Americans' 1-0 victory over Italy last month – Mikkel Diskerud, Jared Jeffrey, Joe Gyau and Tony Taylor. Club Tijiuana's Joe Corona is the lone man playing in Mexico to make the roster.
The majority of the group has been training together for the past week. Porter expects them to play well from the opening whistle.
"We've seen them already in friendlies, so it's not like we're throwing them out there and hoping," he told reporters before training on Tuesday. "We expect a very good performance out of these guys because we have very talented players and we've had time to put them together the right way."
One player who won't have much time to adjust is Adu's Philadelphia Union teammate, Sheanon Williams. He was a late addition to the Under-23 squad, getting the nod after Norwegian club Molde recalled Josh Gatt.
The US open Olympic qualifying against Cuba on Thursday at LP Field (9 pm ET, Universal Sports Network, Telemundo). They then play Canada on Saturday and finish out group-stage play against El Salvador on March 26. The top two teams in Group A advance to the semifinals in Kansas City, Kan., on March 31.
FULL US OLYMPIC QUALIFYING ROSTER
GOALKEEPERS (2): Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire)
DEFENDERS (6): Perry Kitchen (D.C. United), Ike Opara (San Jose Earthquakes), Kofi Sarkodie (Houston Dynamo), Zarek Valentin (Montreal Impact), Jorge Villafaña (Chivas USA), Sheanon Williams (Philadelphia Union)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Freddy Adu (Philadelphia Union), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana/Mexico), Mix Diskerud (Gent/Belgium), Jared Jeffrey (Mainz/Germany), Amobi Okugo (Philadelphia Union), Michael Stephens (LA Galaxy)
FORWARDS (6): Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Terrence Boyd (Borussia Dortmund/Germany), Teal Bunbury (Sporting Kansas City), Joe Gyau (Hoffenheim/Germany), Brek Shea (FC Dallas), Tony Taylor (Estoril Praia/Portugal)
