Putting together a national team roster, especially one for a world championship, requires Gumby-like flexibility. Players lose form, get injured, or are rendered unavailable by their clubs, rules be damned.
Manager Tab Ramos' construction of the U.S. roster for the FIFA U-20 World Cup proved to be no different. The U.S., which begins play in South Korea on May 22, has a roster that is largely shorn of foreign-based players, and that wasn't entirely Ramos' doing. Neither of the Schalke duo of Nick Taitague and Weston McKennie were released by the club due to the fact that Schalke's U-19 team is still competing for the German U-19 title.