The U20 World Cup is a challenging tournament to win, made even more so as coaches navigate the refusal of some clubs to release players for the tournament. In the case of the U.S. U20 and head coach Mikey Varas, he will be without several key players whose clubs said no to their selection, including Jalen Neal, Paxten Aaronson, and Christopher Brady, three of the four players to make the U20 Concacaf Tournament’s Best XI as the U.S. stormed to a dominant win. But only eleven of those players return for the U20 World Cup, and two players will join if the U.S. advance past the group stages, handing Varas a unique challenge as well as an opportunity for new faces to create their national team legacy.
Fortunately, the U.S. player pool is as deep as there’s ever been, so there is certainly no shortage of talent. Here are seven players who could have a major impact on how the U20 World Cup proceeds.
