WASHINGTON– D.C. United has announced that homegrown defender Jalen Robinson has been selected to the U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team for its upcoming camp and the Toulon Tournament in Toulon, France. Robinson joined the U-23 side on May 24 and will return to Washington at the conclusion of the tournament.
Robinson, United’s seventh homegrown signing, joined the Black-and-Red first team before the 2014 season after two years at Wake Forest University. He has spent most of the last two seasons on loan in the USL, with one goal in eight appearances (eight starts) on loan this year with the Richmond Kickers, and 19 appearances (10 starts) with Arizona United SC in 2014. Robinson has yet to feature for United in MLS competition. In two seasons at Wake Forest, Robinson was named ACC All-Freshman, Freshman All-American as well as Second Team All-ACC.
Robinson has a wealth of international youth experience as he has spent time with the U.S. U-20 National Team at the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament, commonly known as the Milk Cup, as well as the U-18, U-17 and U-15 National Teams.
The U-23 camp and Toulon Tournament are important parts of continued preparation for 2016 CONCACAF Olympic qualifying, which will take place in October of this year. The tournament is comprised of two five-team groups. The United States is with Costa Rica, France, Netherlands and Qatar in Group A. Group B consists of China PR, England, Ivory Coast, Mexico and Morocco. The top teams from each group will meet in the final on June 7, and the second-place teams from each group will play for third place the same day.
Roster By Position:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Cody Cropper (Southampton; Maple Grove, Minn.), Charlie Horton (Cardiff City; Cleveland, Ohio), Tyler Miller (Zweibrücken; Woodbury, N.J.)
DEFENDERS (7): Juan Pablo Ocegueda (Alebrijes de Oaxaca; Riverside, Calif.), Boyd Okwuonu (Real Salt Lake; Edmund, Okla.), Shane O’Neill (Colorado Rapids; Boulder, Colo.), William Packwood (Unattached; Concord, Mass.), Jalen Robinson (D.C. United; Catonsville, Md.), Dillon Serna (Colorado Rapids; Brighton, Colo.), Sam Strong (Santa Barbara; Santa Barbara, Calif.)
MIDFIELDERS (4): Fatai Alashe (San Jose Earthquakes; Northville, Mich.), Benji Joya (Santos Laguna; San Jose, Calif.), Daniel Metzger (Unattached; Holmdel, N.J.), Marc Pelosi (Liverpool; Sunnyvale, Calif.)
FORWARDS (5): Julian Green (Bayern Munich; Tampa, Fla.); Alonso Hernandez (C.F. Monterrey; El Paso, Tex.), Jerome Kiesewetter (Stuttgart; Berlin, Germany), Alfred Koroma Shams (Southlake Carol, Texas), Jordan Morris (Stanford; Mercer Island, Wash.).
