James Sands was one of seven players selected from New York City FC. (Photo courtesy of NYCFC)

Sixteen players with ties to the metropolitan area have been called into one of five U.S. national team men’s youth camps this month.

Seven of the players come from New York City FC.

They were among 153 players who were named to the rosters of the U.S. Under-16, U-17, U-18, U-19 and U-20 men’s national teams at the first U.S. Youth Soccer Summit in Lakewood Ranch, Fla. from Jan. 2-11.

U.S. Soccer youth technical director Tab Ramos and coaching staffes will look at the players while laying the first foundational elements for qualifying the U.S. for the 2019 FIFA U-20 and U-17 World Cups.

“I am looking forward to building on the success our Youth National Teams had over the last two cycles (2014-2015 and 2016-2017),” Ramos said. “This first ever Men’s YNT Summit Camp provides all of our teams the opportunity to team build and to continue the development of our style of play in one location together.”

Here are the area players selected:

U-20:

Defender James Sands (New York City FC, Rye, N.Y.)

Forward Nebiyou Perry (AIK/Sweden; New York, N.Y),

U-19

Goalkeeper Johan Penaranda (New York City FC; Long Beach, N.Y.)

Defender Chris Gloster (Unattached; Montclair, N.J.)

U-18

Defender Nico Benalcazar (New York City FC; Wilton, Conn.)

Midfielder Owen Otasowie (Wolverhampton Wanderers/ENG; New York, N.Y.)

U-17

Defender Amir Daley (New York Red Bulls; Elmont, N.Y.)

Defender Tayvon Gray (New York City FC; Bronx, N.Y.)

Defender Joseph Scally (New York City FC, Lake Grove, N.Y.)

Defender John Tolkin (New York Red Bulls, Chatham, N.J.)

Midfielder Anthony Rouse (New York Soccer Club; Albany, N.Y.),

Midfielder Peter Stroud (New York Red Bulls; Chester, N.J.)

Forward Giovanni Reyna (New York City FC; Bedford Corners, N.Y.),

Forward Andres Jasson (New York City FC; Greenwich, Conn.)

U-16

Midfielder Jack McGlynn (BW Gottschee Academy; Middle Village, N.Y.)

Forward Dantouma Toure (Players Development Academy; Trenton, N.J.)

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.