CHICAGO – 2016 USL 20 Under 20 selection Marco Farfan, a recent Homegrown Player signing by the Portland Timbers, led a trio of USL players named by Head Coach Brad Friedel to the United States Men’s U19 National Team training camp in Miami that opened on Friday.

Farfan competed as an Academy signing for the Portland Timbers 2 in 2016, and was selected as the No.7 player in the USL’s countdown of the top young players in the league last summer. This offseason he signed with the Timbers and will begin his first professional season this March.

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Also named to the camp were the Swope Park Rangers midfield duo of Felipe Hernandez and Will Little, both of whom signed USL contracts with the club in January.  Little made nine appearances as an Academy signing a season ago as the Rangers claimed the 2016 USL Western Conference Championship in their inaugural season. Swope Park is one of only two teams to have multiple players selected for the camp, the other being Atlanta United FC.

“I'm really looking forward to the camp and I think we've assembled a good, athletic squad and I will be really interested to see who does well,” Friedel said. “This camp is meant to bring in new and returning players and give them the opportunity to get into the system and have a chance at making a future U-20 roster.

“The second part of that is, the (birth year) 1997, 1998 and some 1999 age groups are going to make up the bulk of the next U-23 Olympic team. So it’s really important that we continue to give the players international experience.”