U.S. Soccer and Real Salt Lake announced on Monday that MF Luis Gil has been named to the U.S. Under-20 National Team for its upcoming friendlies against Canada, Scotland and Azerbaijan from Oct. 7-17 at the 2012 Marbella Cup in Marbella, Spain.
Gil will report to head coach Tab Ramos’ U-20 squad following RSL’s
Saturday, Oct. 6
match at the L.A. Galaxy.
“We’re very excited for Luis to join the U.S. U-20’s in Spain, it’s a great honor for him” said RSL General Manager Garth Lagerwey. “We hope that Luis will be a big part of the U-20 team going forward as we feel that it will further his development as one of the best young players in MLS.”
This is the first U.S. U-20 camp Gil will participate in during the 2012 MLS season. The 18-year-old MF was called-in to two previous U-20 camps during the regular season but did not participate in either, missing one due to injury and the other to stay with Real Salt Lake after other players got hurt.
Gil has played an important role for RSL this season, setting career highs by appearing in 26 league games, starting 16 league games and registering three assists. Gil has also scored one goal for the Claret-and-Cobalt, one off his career high set in 2011.
The U-20 roster includes a variety of domestically based players along with several playing professionally in Mexico and Europe. In total, 10 of the 19 players on the roster are based in the U.S., while three come from club teams in Mexico and six players will make the short trek from their European clubs to the competition in Spain.
The U.S. U-20 team is scheduled to face Canada at 5:30 p.m. local time (11:30 a.m. ET) on Wednesday, Oct. 10 in the team’s first match. On Friday, Oct. 12, the U.S. squares off against Scotland at 3:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. ET) and finally takes on Azerbaijan at 5 p.m. (11 a.m. ET) on Tuesday, Oct. 16.
Real Salt Lake next plays on Saturday, Oct. 6, when it will take on its Western Conference rival L.A. Galaxy at the Home Depot Center in Southern California.
