David Ochoa, Richie Ledezma and Sebastian Soto named to US U-20 World Cup squad

Goalkeeper David Ochoa (signed with Real Salt Lake), Midfielder Richard Ledezma (signed with PSV Eindhoven) and Sebastian Soto (signed with Hannover 96) were all officially called into the United States FIFA U-20 World Cup squad this morning. There will join 18 others to compete in Poland from May 23 to June 15. The United States is the defending CONCACAF champion and one of only two sides to reach the quarterfinals in the last two U-20 World Cups.

David Ochoa has been the first choice goalkeeper for the Real Monarchs in the USL Championship and has been named to the team of the week and been nominated for the save of the week.

Richard Ledezma has been fighting injury since signing with the Dutch side, but made his first start for PSV Eindhoven’s U-19 side last week against NAC Breda and scored a goal.

Sebastian Soto has been a prolific goal scorer for Hannover 96’s U19 with 16 goals. Soto was called into the winter camp with the full Hannover 96 squad and made his first team debut just over a month ago.

The US side is very young with only three members who are already 20, eight who are 19, 8 who are 18 and one who is still 17. David Ochoa who was born in 2001 will still be age-eligible for the next U-20 World Cup in 2021.

The United States was drawn in Group D along with Qatar, Nigeria and Ukraine. Their first group stage match will be on Friday, May 24 against Ukraine followed by Nigeria on Monday, May 27th, and Qatar on Thursday, May 30th. All these matches will air on FS1 and FS2 at 2:30 PM.