Colorado Rapids Homegrown Players Dillon Serna and Shane O’Neill have been selected for the first domestic Under-23 Men’s National Team training camp of 2015 in Carson, California.
The five-day training camp will feature an international friendly match against the Under-23 Mexican National Team on Wednesday, April 22 at StubHub Center at 9 p.m. MT. The camp will also serve as preparation for the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifiers to be held in the USA in October of this year.
Brighton native Serna, 21, was signed as a Rapids Homegrown Player on January 14, 2013. He made 27 appearances (18 starts) for the club last season, scoring three goals and adding four assists. Serna made club history by becoming the first-ever Rapids Homegrown Player to score in a professional match on April 26, 2014 against Seattle Sounders FC. Serna will return to international duty after taking part in the first U.S. National Team training camp of 2015 in January. He was a member of the USA’s 2011 U-17 World Cup squad that competed in Mexico, having competed in the 2011 U-17 CONCACAF tournament.
O’Neill, another Rapids Academy product out of Boulder, was signed as the Rapids’ second Homegrown Player on June 19, 2012. He was named the Rapids Young Player of the Year for 2013 after a season in which he played 26 games (24 starts), including a run in which the team went 16 games undefeated in O’Neill’s first 16 starts as a professional. In addition, the 6’2” defender started two matches for the U.S. team at the 2013 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Turkey, scoring one of the team’s three goals at the tournament. O’Neill trained with the full U.S. National squad in January of 2015, along with Serna, and featured for the U-23s in Bosnia & Herzegovina and Denmark last month.
The Colorado Rapids get ready to face FC Dallas for the second time in as many weeks. The Rapids earned their first victory of the season against FC Dallas on Friday, April 10. Kickoff at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park is set for 8:00 p.m. MT on Univision Deportes. For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit www.ColoradoRapids.com or call 303-825-GOAL.
U.S. U-23 ROSTER BY POSITION:
GOALKEEPERS: Cody Cropper (Southampton; Maple Grove, Minn.), Jon Kempin (San Antonio Scorpions; Leawood, Kan.)
DEFENDERS: Christian Dean (Vancouver Whitecaps; East Palo Alto, Calif.), Juan Pablo Ocegueda (Alebrijes de Oaxaca; Riverside, Calif.), Boyd Okwuonu (Real Salt Lake; Edmund, Okla.), Shane O’Neill (Colorado Rapids; Boulder, Colo.), Dillon Serna (Colorado Rapids; Brighton, Colo.), Oscar Sorto (LA Galaxy; Los Angeles, Calif), Sam Strong (UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, Calif.), Walker Zimmerman (FC Dallas; Lawrenceville, Ga.)
MIDFIELDERS: Fatai Alashe (San Jose Earthquakes; Northville, Mich.), Luis Gil (Real Salt Lake; Garden Grove, Calif.), Alejandro Guido (Club Tijuana; Chula Vista, Calif.), Benji Joya (Santos Laguna; San Jose, Calif.), Daniel Metzger (New York Red Bulls II; Holmdel, N.J.)
FORWARDS: Alonso Hernandez (C.F. Monterrey; El Paso, Texas), Alfred Koroma Shams (Unattached; Southlake Carol, Texas), Jordan Morris (Stanford; Mercer Island, Wash.), Mario Rodriguez (Borussia Mönchengladbach; North Hollywood, Calif.), Jose Villarreal (LA Galaxy; Inglewood, Calif.)
