Defender DeAndre Yedlin of the Sounders has been named to the U.S. under-20 Men’s National Team for the 2013 FIFA World Cup in Turkey June 21-July 13. The Sounders’ first homegrown player, the 19-year-old Yedlin, of O’Dea High School, started 11 of 12 MLS matches this season and logged the second-most minutes (989) of any Seattle field player.
Yedlin will miss four Sounders matches: At Real Salt Lake June 22, vs. D.C. United July 3, at Vancouver July 6 and at San Jose July 13. The Sounders have already had Eddie Johnson and Brad Evans called up by the U.S. senior team for World Cup qualifier matches. Mario Martinez is also playing for his native Honduras.
Yedlin was previously called to the U-20 national team camp in January 2012 and also joined the team for training camp in April.
“We’re very happy about the group we selected,” said U-20 head coach Tab Ramos. “Obviously it’s always difficult. Wednesday night we were up till late selecting the final couple of players. It’s always hard to let a player go who’s worked so hard to get here, and we know that we have 35 players who are deserving of going to the World Cup.”
The U.S. is coming off a four-game stretch at the Under-21 Toulon tournament in France, where Ramos and his staff used the event to finalize the roster.
Sixteen of the players on the USA’s 22-player Toulon roster are part of the World Cup squad. The five who were not with the team in France include Yedlin, Philadelphia Union Academy goalkeeper Zach Steffen, midfielder Luis Gil of Real Salt Lake, and forwards Mario Rodriguez of FC Kaiserslautern and Jose Villarreal of the LA Galaxy.
Yedlin is listed as a starter for Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. match against the Vancouver Whitecaps at CenturyLink Field.
