Porter to guide US Olympic hopefuls

Published: 20 Oct 2011 - 20:05:40

Rss feed

Caleb Porter, a 36-year-old coach who guided the University of Akron to last year's US college crown, was named Thursday to guide the American under-23 squad trying to reach the 2012 London Olympics.

The US Soccer Federation also named three-time former US World Cup player Tab Ramos as coach of its under-20 national team.

Porter will remain in his collegiate role as he tries to put the Americans into the Olympics for the fifth time since 1992 at a CONCACAF regional qualifying event next March.

The Americans' best Olympic men's showing came in 2000 when they lost to Spain in the bronze-medal match.

"Caleb has been extremely successful and has demonstrated the ability to mentor and develop young players," US Soccer president Sunil Gulati said. "A proven winner, we believe he will do a great job of leading our team as they look to qualify for the Olympic Games next summer."