U.S. Olympic Men’s Soccer Team

Peter Nowak, the coach of the U.S. Men’s Olympic soccer team, in mid-July named 18 players to represent America at the Beijing games. The lineup consists of 12 players who have participated at the national team level, including the three youngest on the team: Freddy Adu, Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley at 19, 18 and 20, respectively. The oldest member of the team is Brian McBride at 36.

The modern era of soccer started in England in 1863, but its roots extend to the ancient Chinese, Greeks and Romans in the 1300s and 1400s, a time when the sports that evolved into soccer was very violent. In today’s Olympic games, professional soccer players are allowed to compete, but only three can be older than 23 years old, according to the Beijing games website.

Here is the roster of men who have made the cut, as of July 17, for the U.S. soccer team at the Beijing Olympics. Below is each player’s name, position, number, age, hometown and club.

Freddy Adu, midfielder, #11, 19, hometown Potomac, Md., Hometown club: S.F. Benfica (Portugal),

Jozy Altidore, forward, #12, 18, Boca Raton, Fla., Villarreal (Spain)

Michael Bradley, midfielder, #4, 20, Manhattan Beach, Calf., SC Heerenveen (Netherlands)

Charlie Davies, forward, #9, 22, Manchester, N.H., Hammarby IF (Sweden)

Maurice Edu, midfielder, #6, 22, Fontana, Calif., Toronto FC (MLS)

Benny Feilhaber, midfielder, #10, 23, Irvine, Calif., Derby County (England)

Brad Guzan, goalkeeper, #18, 23, Homer Glen, Ill., Chivas USA (MLS)

Stuart Holden, midfielder, #7, 22, Houston, Houston Dynamo (MLS)

Parick Ianni, defender, #13, 23, Lodi, Calif., Houston Dynamo (MLS)

Sacha Kljestan, midfielder, #16, 22, Huntingon Beach, Calif., Chivas USA (MLS)

Brian McBride, forward, #17, 36, Arlington Heights, Ill., out of contract

Michael Orozco, defender, #3, 22, Orange, Calif., San Juis (Mexico)

Michael Parkhust, defender, #15, 24, Providence, R.I., New England Revolution (MLS)

Robbie Rogers, forward, #14, 21, Huntington Beach, Calif., Columbus Crew (MLS)

Chris Seitz, goalkeeper, #1, 21, San Lius Obispo, Calif., Real Salt Lake (MLS) 

Dax McCarty, midfielder, #5, 21, Winter Park, Fla., FC Dallas (MLS)

Danny Szetela, midfielder, #8, 21, Clifton, N.J., Brescia Calcio (Italy) 

Marvell, Wynne, defender, #2, 22, Poway, Calif., Toronto FC (MLS)  

For more information on the U.S. Mens Soccer Team, go to the official U.S. Soccer website. If you want to see all U.S. Olympic qualifiers in every sport for the Beijing games starting in August, start your search on this official U.S. Olympics page. Want to know more about soccer (look under football — as it’s called elsewhere in the world ) in the Beijing games? Here’s information on the official Beijing Olympic games website.