In conjunction with U.S. Soccer, Columbus Crew SC today announced that Homegrown midfielder Ben Swanson has earned a call-up to the United States Under-18 National Team for a training camp in Carson, California running from July 6-14. The first domestic training camp of the year for the U-18s, the squad is also set to participate in the 2015 U-18 Men's NTC Invitational Tournament.
Swanson and the U-18s open NTC Invitational play on Saturday, July 11 against Uruguay (7:00 p.m. ET) followed by a match against the Czech Republic on Monday, July 13 (8:00 p.m. ET). All matches take place on the Glenn "Mooch" Myernick Field at U.S. Soccer's National Training Center in Carson. All tournament matches are streamed live on ussoccer.com.
This is the second U-18 call-up this season for Swanson, who earned an invitation to join the side in Bosnia & Herzegovina for a nine-day camp from April 22 - May 1. He started three friendlies for the U-18s over that timespan.
The Grove City native is among a contingent of players from Sporting Director and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter’s squad to earn international call-ups in 2015, including Waylon Francis (Costa Rica), Kevan George (Trinidad and Tobago), Cedrick Mabwati (DR Congo), Justin Meram (Iraq), Kristinn Steindorsson (Iceland), Wil Trapp (United States) and Romain Gall (U.S. Under-20s). Crew SC’s roster also features Sergio Campbell (Jamaica), Kei Kamara (Sierra Leone), Michael Parkhurst (United States) and Emanuel Pogatetz (Austria), all with senior National Team experience.
Crew SC travels to Canada this weekend to take on 2015 CONCACAF Champions League finalist Montreal Impact at Stade Saputo. The match is set to kick-off at 8:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 11 (Time Warner Cable SportsChannel / CD102.5 FM / La Mega FM 103.1).
