14 former student-athletes to represent their national teams at the World Cup in Qatar
At this moment, 32 teams from Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Oceania are preparing to face each other and define the eleven that will lift the World Cup in Qatar on December 18.
Among the players called up, 14 athletes participated in college soccer programs in the United States. In the list of players of the Costa Rican national team stands out defender Francisco Calvo, current player of the Turkish team Konyaspor, who in 2010 was a student athlete of the NJCAA program of San Jacinto College, located in the city of Houston. His time at the institution lasted only one season; however, Calvo was the third player with the most goals in his team, he scored 5 goals in 14 games played.
The U.S. team's roster includes 8 players who also attended college soccer programs. 28-year-old goalkeeper Matt Turner, a current Arsenal player, was an NCAA Division 1 student athlete at Fairfield University from 2012 to 2015. During that time he played in 39 games, made a total of 152 saves and was named a conference All-American in his final two seasons.
On the other hand, 33-year-old goalkeeper Sean Johnson, was a student athlete at University of Central Florida, an NCAA Division 1 program where Propella clients Gino Vivi, Brandon Calderon and Timothy Arias are currently competing.
Also, on the back line, Aaron Long (30) was a student athlete at UC Riverside from 2010 through 2013, a period in which he played 71 games, scored 13 goals and was named to the All-Big West First Team two consecutive seasons.
Walker Zimmerman, current Nashville defender, was a student athlete at Furman University from 2011 to 2012, earned an All-America third team designation, earned Freshman of the Year, All-America second team and All-Southern Conference First Team honors.
Tim Ream (35), was a student athlete at Saint Louis from 2006 to 2009. During this time he played a total of 82 games, qualified with his team to the NCAA Division 1 tournament all four consecutive years and won his A-10 conference championship in 2009, while being named his conference's Defensive Player of the Year.
DeAndre Yedlin (29), now a defender at Inter Miami, joined the University of Akron's NCAA Division 1 program in 2011 and left in 2012. Despite playing limited time, he played a total of 45 games and was named to the All-MAC First Team in both of his two seasons.
The midfield of the U.S. national team call-up also had a presence in college soccer programs. Such is the case of Cristian Rolan (27), who played 41 games and scored 10 goals for the University of Washington from 2013 to 2014.
Finally, striker Jordan Morris (28) stands out, he played from 2013 to 2015 for Stanford University, one of the most prestigious universities in the United States. During his time at Stanford, he scored 23 goals in 54 games played, won the national tournament in 2015 (scoring two goals in the final), received recognition for most outstanding forward and the Mac Hermann Trophy for being the best player in U.S. college soccer.
On the other hand, Canada made a call-up featuring 6 former student-athletes. Goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair (25), was one of the best goalkeepers in U.S. college soccer and played for the University of Maryland where he stayed from 2015 to 2018.
Kamal Miller (25) and Tajon Buchanan (23), also present on the Qatari fields, were student-athletes at Syracuse, a program where Costa Rican Amferny Arias competes and leads with the captain's sash.
Defender Alistair Johnston (24), played 36 games and scored 10 goals for St. John's University from 2016 to 2017. In addition, he was named to the All-Tournament Team for his conference, Big East, in 2017. Richie Laryea (27), was part of the University of Akron's defensive line in 2014 and 2015, a period during which he played 42 games and scored a total of 12 goals.
In 2014, he was a Second-Team All-MAC standout and in 2015 he was named Third-Team All-American, First-Team All-Great Lakes Region and First-Team All-MAC.
Finally, forward Cyle Larin (27) competed for the University of Connecticut program from 2013 to 2014. He was named American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year for his 14 goals during the season, a statistic that placed him sixth in top scoring among NCAA players in 2013. The excellent performance shown during his time at UConn, led him to receive the "American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year" recognition in 2014.
These 14 professional players demonstrate that the American college league can be the beginning of a long road of achievements.
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