STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford freshman Amir Bashti was named by U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team head coach Tab Ramos to the 22-player roster that will compete at the 2016 Dallas Cup set to take place March 20-26.
It will be the third stint with the U-20s for Bashti, who was also part of a January training camp in Miami, Florida, at which the U.S. won two matches against local club teams. He also traveled with the team to Serbia in September 2015 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.
The Dallas Cup is the first step in the process of forming the roster for the 2017 CONCACAF U-20 Men’s Championship from which four teams will earn a berth to the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup from in South Korea.
The USA will play in the Gordon Jago Super Group as it did in 2014 when the team achieved its best tournament finish by advancing to the championship match, where it lost against the U-20 side of traditional Argentina power club, Rive Plate.
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.
The program’s spring schedule was announced last week and begins with a home match against Oxford at Steuber Rugby Stadium on Saturday, April 2 (7 p.m.).
The high point of the Cardinal’s seven-date spring slate is on Saturday, May 7 when it hosts its alumni games and ring ceremony. Matches will feature alums against alums and alums against the current Stanford team before culminating with a dinner and ring ceremony at which the squad will receive its national title jewelry. Any alumni wishing to attend the festivities are welcome to contact assistant coach Nick Kirchhof atmsoccer@stanford.edu. A full schedule of the day and additional details will be publicized once finalized.
