Tommy Thompson will be undertaking a new challenge this summer.
After graduating high school a year early to play college soccer. After turning 18 just before his first season at IU. After leaving with just one season of collegiate experience to play in Major League Soccer, Thompson will play in the Under-20 World Cup this summer in New Zealand.
Thompson, typically an attacking player, will play a variety of roles going towards the opponents’ goal in New Zealand, U-20 Coach Tab Ramos said.
“Tommy Thompson can fit into a number of different positions,” Ramos said. “If you’ve seen him play in the midfield, he finds space all over the field.”
Ramos plans to deploy a 4-4-2 formation at the World Cup.
Thompson could find himself in multiple positions within that formation, whether that be outside in the midfield or in either one of the two forward spots.
“I think the important part is that at this point we have our best players on the field,” Ramos said. “I think we have a pretty well-compensated roster with players that can make a difference from all kinds of positions.”
Wherever Thompson does play, he will be tasked with improving the Americans attack from its qualifying campaign. Ramos said his side created plenty of chances in front of goal, more than any other team in qualifying, but that the U.S. did not convert enough of them.
This might change with the additions of new players to the roster, but Ramos said those who played in the qualifying campaign, like Thompson, need to do a better job in front of goal.
“We need to be a lot more clinical and be able to put our chances away during the World Cup because certainly there’s not going to be as many chances as there were in qualifying,” Ramos said.
Thompson is among the most experienced players on the United States roster, having earned 16 career caps with the U-20 national team. That number is tied with John Requejo for the most on the squad heading to New Zealand.
Thompson had his first experience with the team last summer, scoring in his debut against Bermuda, which was a 4-0 U.S. win.
“Been dreaming of making this roster since the cycle started while I was at IU,” Thompson tweeted Thursday morning. “It seemed so far away back then. Can’t wait to get started.”
The roster does not need to be finalized until May 15, so changes can still be made to the roster. Changes can be made if a player’s club team decides to recall a player from the competition, not wanting to risk injury or no wanting to lose the player during the season.
The teams most likely to recall a player from national team service are MLS teams, like Thompson’s San Jose Earthquakes, because the World Cup takes place during MLS’ regular season.
But Ramos said this is unlikely given the relationship between MLS and US Soccer and that he sees no potential issues with players being ?recalled.
“The ones who could potentially change their minds are MLS clubs, and MLS clubs are very supportive of us and what we do and our program, so that’s not going to happen,” Ramos said.
Thompson beat out multiple capable midfielders to make the team, Ramos said.
The midfield has been one of the more crowded positions on the field during this qualifying campaign, making choosing a midfield a difficult. But the decision was also a confident one, Ramos said, because any player he chose would be capable.
“I had a very tough choice,” Ramos said. “I think the selection process was a very difficult one in that particular position because we have a lot of options.”
