Crossfire’s own Ellis McLoughlin, of the Crossfire Premier ’89 James team, will be part of the 20-man roster that will represent the U.S. at the CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) U-17 Final Round Group B Qualifying Tournament from April 28-May 6 in Kingston, Jamaica.  Players were selected primarily from the 40 available players in U.S. Soccer’s Under-17 Residency Program based in Bradenton, Fla.   McCoughlin joined the U.S. Soccer’s Residency Program in August 2005.  He played club soccer on the Crossfire Premier ’89 James team and played one year of high school soccer before being invited into Residency.  Since joining the U-17s in Residency, McLoughlin leads the with 11 goals in 29 international appearances.

The U.S. has a bye during the opening day of the tournament on April 28 and will open up against Trinidad & Tobago on Sunday, April 30 at 8 p.m. ET. The will then face on May 2 at 6 p.m. ET, on May 4 at 8 p.m. ET and finish against on May 6 at 6 p.m. ET. They will play all four matches at the National Stadium in Kingston.  Every match of the CONCACAF Final Round Qualifying Tournament can be followed live via ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker.

The top three teams will advance to the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup, which will take place in from Aug. 18 to Sept. 9. Those three teams will join and , which qualified from Group A earlier this month, to make up the five CONCACAF berths. , which won the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Cup, finished third in Group A with three straight draws and did not qualify for this summer’s World Cup.

The is the only country to qualify for all 11 previous FIFA U-17 World Cups. The won the CONCACAF Final Round Qualifying Tournament twice (1983 and 1992) when just one winner was crowned from 1983-1996. Since the event became a final round qualification consisting of two groups in 1999, the has won their group four times, taking home the Group A title during the past four competitions in 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2006.

Since joining U.S. Soccer’s Residency Program in September of 2005, the Under-17s have won twice as many international games then they’ve lost with a 14-7-11 record. In 2006, the U.S. competed in six international tournaments in Argentina, England, Japan, Northern Ireland, and the United States, three times finishing in second place.