STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford freshman Amir Bashti was named by Under-20 Men’s National Team head coach Tab Ramos to the 36-player roster for the first U-20 MNT camp of 2016 in Miami last Friday.
On Jan. 8, the U-20s will take on local all-star team CASA at noon PT, then will face Weston FC of the NPSL at 2 p.m. CT. Days later on Jan. 12, the U.S. will play matches with the opponents TBD. All matches will be held at Barry University.
This crop of U-20s, made-up primarily of players born in 1997, will compete to qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Korea Republic, which runs from May-June of 2017.
It will be the second stint with the U-20s for Bashti, who also traveled with the team to Serbia in September for the Stevan Vilotic-Cele Tournament. He came on in the 32nd minute of the United States' 6-1 loss to France in Senta (Sept. 4) and entered a 2-0 victory over Israel in Backa Topola (Sept. 7) in the 78th minute.
Bashti appeared in 21 matches in his freshman season, making one start, scoring four goals and adding two assists. He scored twice off the bench to spur Stanford to a 3-1 victory over Santa Clara in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in what was the first multi-goal game for a Stanford player in the postseason since Roger Levesque’s brace on Nov. 30, 2001 in a 3-1 win over Portland
Bashti earned his first career point assisting on Jordan Morris' winner in the 100th minute against Davidson (Sept. 20) and scored his first career goals in back-to-back matches with Oregon State (Oct. 11) and UCLA (Oct. 16).
The San Jose Earthquakes Academy product is also a veteran of three U.S. Under-18 Men’s National Team camps with stops in Bosnia & Herzegovina (April 2015), Marbella, Spain (Dec. 2014) and Carson, California (Oct. 2014).
Stanford men’s soccer won the first national championship in the program’s 102-year history on Dec. 13, defeating Clemson, 4-0, at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan. The Cardinal extended its streak of at least one NCAA team championship to 40 years, on ongoing record, while earning its 108th NCAA team title and 129th overall.
