Wilmer Cabrera called in 21 new players to the US residency program. (US Soccer)

I wanted to touch on this yesterday but unfortunately my day job didn’t allow the time to do so. It was announced yesterday that the US U-17 residency program in Bradenton, Fla., welcomed the largest class of newcomers in it’s 11-year history. Head coach Wilmer Cabrera brought in 21 new players to the program.

“We tried to find a group of players with a chance to compete for a spot in these important tournaments,” said Cabrera. “We found some under-the-radar players who bring a different type of experience to our team, including one player who was part of a professional environment at Chivas de Guadalajara, so it is a good blend. It is very important that we are all focused on training and competing at a higher level. That will help us during qualifying, which is just a few months away, and we have 40 players we think will help our team succeed.”

We’ve seen this more and more recently in the U-17s and U-20s with large amounts of new players being called into camps and now this program. As MLS clubs continue their academy development so is US Soccer which honestly will only begin to pay off in the coming years I believe.

This year we’re starting to see more guys called in who were with clubs overseas. Luis Martir, who was at Chivas, Mobi Fehr, who was at J-League club Tokyo Verdy, and Danny Zaid, who has been playing at Futeca Camp Elite, a Guatemalan soccer academy.

Below is the roster for the fall season. What do you think of all the newcomers?

Fall 2010 Residency Roster
GOALKEEPERS (4):
Wade Hamilton (Arsenal FC; Murietta, Calif.)
Jake McGuire (Chivas USA; Chino, Calif.)
Kendall McIntosh (Mustang Academy; Santa Rosa, Calif.)
Fernando Pina (Houston Dynamo; Houston, Texas)

DEFENDERS (12):
Kellyn Acosta (FC Dallas; Plano, Texas)
Russell Canouse (NY Red Bulls; Lancaster, Pa.)
Mobi Fehr (Tokyo Verdy 1969; Tokyo, Japan)
Trevor Haberkorn (Solar Chelsea Academy; Roanoke, Texas)
Luis Martir (Chivas de Guadalajara; Los Angeles, Calif.)
Alessandro Mion (Kendall SC; Miami, Fla.)
Cole Nagy (Real Salt Lake-AZ; Scottsdale, Ariz.)
Miguel Polley (Derby County Wolves; West Bloomfield, Mich.)
Tarik Salkicic (Strictly Soccer; Pinellas Park, Fla.)
Nathan Smith (Cal Odyssey; Clovis, Calif.)
Andrew Souders (Crew Soccer Academy; Amherst, Ohio)
Danny Zaid (Camp Elite Guatemala; Guatemala City)

MIDFIELDERS (15):
Ricardo Aldape (Lemont Raiders; Chicago Heights, Ill.)
Joe Amon (South Carolina United FC; Summerville, S.C.)
Marco Delgado (Cosmos Academy West; Glendora, Calif.)
Ruben Duran (Las Vegas Premier; Las Vegas, Nev.)
Patrick Foss (D.C. United; South Riding, Va.)
Alejandro Guido (Aztecs Premier; Chula Vista, Calif.)
Jared Hegardt (Notts Forest FC; San Diego, Calif.)
Ryan Masch (De Anza Force; San Jose, Calif.)
Nico Melo (Florida Rush; Kissimmee, Fla.)
Antonio Murillo (Neusport; Las Vegas, Nev.)
Adam Najem (NY Red Bulls; Clifton, N.J.)
Marc Pelosi (De Anza Force; Sunnyvale, Calif.)
Esteban Rodriguez (Cosmos Academy West; Palmdale, Calif.)
Dillon Serna (Colorado Rapids; Brighton, Colo.)
Colton Storm (HMMS Eagle FC; Mechanicsburg, Pa.)

FORWARDS (9)
Paul Arriola (Arsenal FC; Chula Vista, Calif.)
Kevin De La Torre (Chivas USA; Winchester, Calif.)
Daniel Flores (Cal Odyssey; Fresno, Calif.)
Kellen Gulley (MS Chicago Fire Juniors; Clinton, Miss.)
Edwin Luna (P.A.C. Tigres; San Jose, Calif.)
Alex Muyl (Cosmos Academy East; New York, N.Y.)
Andrew Oliver (Westside United; Indianapolis, Ind.)
Mario Rodriguez (Central Aztecs; North Hollywood, Calif.)
Cole Seiler (CESA; Anderson, S.C.)
Note: New players in bold.

U.S. Under-17 head coach Wilmer Cabrera announced this fall’s 40-player academy class today and it boost some of the best talent that we’ve seen in a long time.

All 40 players are eligible for the 2009 Under-17 World Cup and the majority of that eventual U-17 team will come from the crop of standouts chosen as the latest in a storied line of professionals.

A few players to keep an eye out as we go into next year’s SuperDraft:

• Charles Renken from the Scott Gallagher Soccer Club in St. Louis.
• Victor Pineda from the Chicago Fire academy.
• John Agudelo from the New York Red Bull academy.
• Earl Edwards from San Diego.
• Julio Arjona from the DC United academy.
• Bryan Duran from Duncanville, TX. – I’ve seen the kid and he is a beast.
• Carlos Martinez from Las Vegas.

U.S. Under-17 Residency Program participants:

GOALKEEPERS ( 4): Samir Badr (Fairfax, Va.), Earl Edwards (San Diego, Calif.), Jonathan Kempin (K.C. Wizards Juniors), Spencer Richey (Crossfire Premier)

DEFENDERS (13): Michael Ambrose (El Paso, Texas), Julio Arjona (D.C. United Academy), Zachary Herold (Port St. Lucie, Fla.), Perry Kitchen (Chicago Magic), Jordan McCrary (Concorde Fire), Boyd Okwuonu (Edmond, Okla.), Emilio Orozco (Oxnard, Calif.), Shaquille Phillips (D.C. United Academy), Tyler Polak (Lincoln, Neb.), Alberto Rosas (Real So Cal), Alex Shinsky (York, Penn.), Jared Watts (North Meck), Eriq Zavaleta (Westfield, Ind.)

MIDFIELDERS (17): Jonathan Canales (Santa Ana, Calif.), Dustin Corea (Milwaukee, Ore.), Andrew Craven (St. Simons Island, Ga.), Sean Davis (Matchfit Academy), Bryan Duran (Duncanville, Texas), Victor Garza (Edinburg, Texas), Luis Gil (Pateadores), Joseph Gyau (FC DELCO), Donovan Henry (Schulz Academy), George Malki (Scottsdale, Ariz.), Carlos Martinez (Las Vegas, Nev.), Alex Molano (F.C. Dallas Juniors), Joel Nash (Birmingham, Ala.), Victor Pineda (Chicago Fire Academy), Charles Renken (Scott Gallagher), Dominic Sarle (BW Gottschee), Erik Stephenson (Surf)

FORWARDS (6): John Agudelo (N.Y. Red Bulls Academy), Jonathan Brown (Clinton, Miss), Jaime Gutierrez (West Coast FC), Stefan Jerome (Davie, Fla.), Alfred Koroma (Solar Red), Jack McInerney (Alpharetta, Ga.)