Mooch Sets 20-Man Roster for CONCACAF Olympic Qualification - STM Staff

CHICAGO (January 30, 2004) - Glenn "Mooch" Myernick has set the final 20-player roster for the 2004 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, which will take place from Feb. 2-12 in Guadalajara, Mexico. The team traveled to Mexico a week ago with 22 players, but Myernick was forced to drop two players from the travel roster by the Jan. 31 deadline imposed by CONCACAF.

"We have not come here to play three games in five days; we've come here to play five games in 10 days," said Myernick in a U.S. Soccer press release. "In order to do that with a 20-man roster, you need players that are fit, durable and versatile, and we feel that we have that in our roster."

Anything but qualification will not be tolerated. The U.S. team must advance to Athens. Mooch's team is playing well, going 2-0-1 record in three exhibitions played this month at The HDC.

The U.S. U23s have a decent path to the finals but it will be tough. The USA meets Panama on Tuesday, Feb. 3 at 8 p.m. (local/CT). Northern neighbors Canada on Thursday, Feb. 5 at 8 p.m. and Honduras on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 1 p.m. round out group play for the USA. All three U.S. opening round matches in Group A will be played at the 10,000-seat Estadio 3 de Marzo in Zapopan, Guadalajara).

Group B features Costa Rica, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago and the Mexico. All Group B matches will be played at Estadio Jalisco. The top two teams from each group will meet in the single-elimination semifinals on Tuesday, Feb. 10 at Estadio Jalisco, with the winner of Group A meeting the second-place team from Group B, and the winner of Group B meeting the second-place team from Group A. The two semi-final winners will earn automatic berths to Athens 2004 and meet in the final on Feb. 12.

Mooch will lean heavily on proven stars such as Landon Donovan (San Jose Earthquakes), DaMarcus Beasley (Chicago Fire) and Bobby Convey (D.C. United). All three are full senior internationals added to the U23 roster to give it some serious depth.

Midfielder Kyle Beckerman (Colorado Rapids) and goalkeeper D.J. Countess (Dallas Burn) join the trio above. Five players from the U.S. U20 team that took fifth place at the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship in the United Arab Emirates will feature on the U23 team. These players include defenders Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew) and Zak Whitbread (Liverpool - England), midfielder Eddie Gaven (MetroStars) and forward Ed Johnson (Dallas Burn).

Forwards David Testo (Richmond Kickers - A-League) and Alecko Eskandarian (D.C. United) will feature up top. Testo led the USA U23s with eight points (3 g, 2 a) in 2003, while earning A-League Rookie of the Year honors with six goals and two assists. Eskandarian, the 2003 MLS SuperDraft #1 pick, finished third in scoring for his club D.C. United with six points (2 g, 2 a).