The U.S. Under-17 men’s youth national team will begin its journey at the 2023 Concacaf U-17 Championship on Saturday vs. Barbados (8 p.m. ET; FS2, ViX+).

The game serves as the USA’s first step towards qualification for the 2023 U-17 World Cup in Peru.

The U-17 MYNT continues Group F play on Monday, Feb. 13 against Trinidad and Tobago (8 p.m. ET; FS1, ViX+) and wraps up the group stage on Wednesday, Feb. 15 vs. regional rival Canada (8 p.m. ET; FS2, ViX+).

All tournament matches will be broadcast in English on Fox Sports platforms and on the Fox Sports app with corresponding authentication. All matches will be available in Spanish on ViX+, TelevisaUnivision’s streaming service. Fans can sign up for a one-month ViX+ subscription for 99 cents.

Players born on or after Jan. 1, 2006 are age-eligible for the 2023 Concacaf U-17 Championship. Head coach Gonzalo Segares selected 19 players born in 2006 and one born in 2007.

The roster

GOALKEEPERS (2): Adam Beaudry (Colorado Rapids; 1/0; Castle Pines, Colo.), Duran Ferree (San Diego Loyal; 0/0; San Diego, Calif.)

DEFENDERS (6): Christian Diaz (LAFC; 4/0; San Bernardino, Calif.), Tyler Hall (Inter Miami CF; 8/0; Miramar, Fla.), Aidan Harangi (Eintracht Frankfurt/GER; 3/0; Zwingenberg, Germany), Stuart Hawkins (Seattle Sounders FC; 7/0; Fox Island, Wash.), Sawyer Jura (Portland Timbers; 3/0; Bend, Ore.), Oscar Verhoeven (San Jose Earthquakes; 8/0; Pleasant Hill, Calif.)

MIDFIELDERS (7): Christopher Aquino (Seattle Sounders FC; 0/0; Pasco, Wash.), Adrian Gill (FC Barcelona/ESP; 3/0; Denver, Colo.), Taha Habroune (Columbus Crew; 0/0; Columbus, Ohio), Cruz Medina (San Jose Earthquakes; 8/2; San Francisco, Calif.), Edwyn Mendoza (San Jose Earthquakes; 6/0; San Francisco, Calif.), Paulo Rudisill (LA Galaxy; 8/1; Irvine, Calif.), Pedro Soma (UE Cornella/ESP; 7/0; Coconut Creek, Fla.)

FORWARDS (5): Micah Burton (Austin FC; 7/2; Mounds View, Minn.), Keyrol Figueroa (Liverpool/ENG; Warrington, U.K.), Brian Romero (Charlotte FC; 7/1; Concord, N.C.),Ezekiel Soto (Houston Dynamo FC; 8/3; Menifee, Calif.) David Vasquez (Philadelphia Union; 3/0; Los Angeles, Calif.)

 

Using a variety of different formats since its inception in 1985, the 2023 Concacaf U-17 Championship will use the same 20-team tournament format introduced for the 2019 edition and since used for all of Concacaf’s Youth World Cup qualifying competitions. Sixteen countries are drawn into four groups of four, while four countries advance directly to the Round of 16 via a pre-qualifying tournament.

The top three finishers in each group qualify to the Round of 16, where they will be joined by the four teams from pre-qualifying. From there, it’s a knockout bracket to the tournament final. The four winners of the quarterfinal matches will qualify to the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru. After the Oceania Football Confederation, Concacaf is the second confederation to host its qualifying tournament for the 2023 U-17 World Cup.

 

 

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.