FRISCO, Texas – FC Dallas Home Grown player Jonathan Top has been called in to represent the U.S. Under-19 National Team in the 2012 Mercedes-Benz Junior Cup in Stuttgart, Germany from Jan. 3 to Jan. 9, U.S. Soccer announced today.
The Mercedes-Benz Junior Cup is an annual indoor soccer tournament featuring some of the top clubs from around the world. The U.S. has been drawn into Group A and will compete against club teams from Lechia Danzig (Poland), VfB Stuttgart (Germany) and FSV Mainz 05 (France). Group B includes Lazio (Italy), Celtic Glasgow (Scotland), SC Freiburg (Germany) and Hamburger SV (Germany).
Top, who signed as FC Dallas’ fifth Home Grown player on Jan. 12, 2011 was the leading scorer for the FC Dallas Under-18 Development Academy team in 2010. He made one appearance for the FC Dallas first team in 2011. He came on in the 73rd minute of a 2-1 win over Tigres UANL in the second leg of the Rio Grande Plate. In the annual home-and-away exhibition match, Top netted the fourth of six goals which led to an FC Dallas victory in the penalty-kick shootout. Top, who will turn 19 on Jan. 26, also saw 374 minutes of action with the FC Dallas Reserves.
In addition, FC Dallas Academy products Mike Ambrose, Boyd Okwuonu, Daniel Garcia and Flavio Guzman were called in to the first U.S. Under-20 National Team camp of 2012 by head coach Tab Ramos and U-16 midfielder Kellyn Acosta has been called into the U-18 January camp by head coach Richie Williams. The training camps will both be held Jan. 2-9 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
Ramos is preparing the squad for the 2013 FIFA Under-20 World Cup qualifying tournament, which will likely begin in early 2013. The World Cup will be held in Turkey in 2013, and every player on the roster is age-eligible for the competition.
Garcia and Ambrose saw time with the FC Dallas Reserves in 2011. Garcia had two goals in 80 minutes of action while Ambrose logged 242 minutes as a defender. Also a defender, Okwuonu won the ACC regular season title, the ACC tournament title and the NCAA Championship as a freshman with the University of North Carolina. He was named to the College Soccer News Freshman All-America Team. Guzman was the only player with the FC Dallas Under-18’s to start all 13 games this season. The midfielder netted three goals for the 11-0-2 squad.
Williams is leading his first camp since being named head coach last October. He will lead his age group through international tournaments and domestic training camps throughout the year to develop the players and to integrate the U-18 program into the same structure as the Men’s National Team in terms of style of play, training sessions and fitness testing.
Acosta has made 11 appearances and 10 starts for the FC Dallas U-16s this season. He is one of two 2011FIFA U-17 World Cup veterans to be taking part in the camp along with forward Paul Arriola from California.