Mykel Bates (Boca Jrs 89) made the U17 World Cup Roster

                                                    Bradenton, FL -- Mykel has played for Boca since he was 7 and the U.S. Under-17 Men’s National Team head coach John Hackworth has included him on the 21-player roster that will represent the United States at the 2007 FIFA Under-17 World Cup from Aug. 18-Sept. 9 across eight venues in South Korea. The World Cup games will be televised on ESPNU. “We felt all along that the talented pool of players in this age group is very deep, making our decisions extremely difficult,” said Hackworth. “However, we feel that we selected players that have proven that they are dedicated to our team’s success at the World Cup.”

All 52 matches of the tournament will be broadcast by ESPNU and ESPN360.com, with all three of the ’s group matches being aired live on ESPNU. In addition, the ’s second match against on Thursday, Aug. 23 will be simulcast live on ESPN2 at 3:45 a.m. ET. While only a select number of first round games will be aired on ESPNU, every second round match, which includes the Round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, third place and final, will be aired on the 24-hour college sports network. Every live match on ESPNU will be re-aired at a later time to accommodate viewers.

In front of the goalkeepers will be a pair of defenders, Sheanon Williams and Mykell Bates, who solidified the back line during qualifying, starting all four matches, while Meyer and Brandon Zimmerman both started two games.

The Under-17 Men’s National Team is currently training in Clemson, S.C.,as they enter the final stages of preparation for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup.The camp includes a friendly against fellow World Cup qualifier on Tuesday, Aug. 7, in Atlanta on the campus of Kennesaw State University. The following day, the team will head home to Bradenton fort hree days before returning to Atlanta on Aug.11 where they will train for two days and then leave for on Aug. 13.

In the 11 previous world championships at this age group, the ’s best finish ever came in New Zealand ‘99, when the U-17s, led by Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, Oguchi Onyewu and Bobby Convey, advanced to the semifinals and eventually finished in fourth place.
The 52-match tournament, which will feature 24 teams for the first time as opposed to theprevious 16, will take place in eight venues across - Changwon, Cheonan, Goyang, Gwangyang , Jeju, Seoul, Suwon and Ulsan. The local organizing committee has set itself a number of objectives, one of which is tobreak the current overall attendance record for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The Korean organizers have kept ticket prices low for all 52 matches (between $9 to$22) in hopes of breaking the record of 735,000, which has stood ever since theinaugural event – a U-16 competition – in China PR in 1985.

This will be the 21st anniversary of the FIFA U-17 World Championship, which has seen a number of talented players begin their careers on the world stage,including Luis Figo, Alessandro Del Piero, Juan Veron, Francesco Totti andRonaldinho.

U.S. Under-17 MNT ESPN TV Schedule
Date Opponent Venue KickoffTV
Aug. 20 Tajikistan Changwon 6:45 a.m. ET ESPNU
Aug. 23 Tunisia Changwon 3:45 a.m. ET ESPN2, ESPNU
Aug. 26 Belguim Cheonan 2:45 a.m.ET ESPNU

 

For more detailed TV Schedule, click on this link