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USYNT analysis

With an eye towards LA2028, U.S. Soccer announces U-21 team and a U-20 rosters

ASN's Brian Sciaretta looks at the roster of the new U.S. U-21 team as well as the U-20 roster for 2006-born players who will also be part of the 2028 Olympic pool. 
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
November 08, 2025
9:10 AM

ON FRIDAY, U.S. Soccer announced plans for a U-21 national team that will help to start the 2028 Olympic cycle. While this roster contains several players born in 2004, starting in September 2026, it will revert to a 2005 and younger age limit – which is the cutoff for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic men’s tournament.

This first camp of the U-21 team will take place in Europe with two friendlies. First, the team will face Denmark on November 14 and then Serbia on November 18.

The team’s coach this camp is Michael Morris, who was the assistant to former Olympic and U-20 head coach Marko Mitrovic – who recently left the federation to take the job with the New England Revolution.

The purpose of this camp is twofold.

First, it keeps some talented 2004-born players in the system as they push towards the full national team. Many of these players might not make the 2026 World Cup team, but they are expected to be in the mix starting next cycle with a coach still unknown at this point.

Second, it allows the players who are in the 2005 and 2006 birth years to build momentum heading into the start of the Olympic cycle which was announced to begin in September 2026.

In addition, the federation also announced the roster for a U-20 camp in Costa Rica. During the camp, the U-20 MNT will play the Costa Rica U-20 side on Nov. 15 and Nov. 18 at Estadio Piedades de Santa Ana. This camp will be coached by Rob Valentino, who recently served as the interim head coach of Atlanta United. 

This is for 2006-born players. While these players won’t be part of the next U-20 cycle for the 2027 U-20 World Cup, they are eligible to be part of the 2028 Olympic team pool. The players on this roster did not take part in the 2025 U-20 World Cup but were part of that pool. U.S. Soccer has the objective right now to keep as many players in the system as possible.

Here are thoughts on it all. 


U.S. U-21 roster for November

GOALKEEPERS (2): Diego Kochen (FC Barcelona/ESP Miramar, Fla.), Gaga Slonina (Chelsea/ENG; Addison, Ill.)

DEFENDERS (6): Reed Baker-Whiting (Seattle Sounders; Seattle, Wash.), Noah Cobb (Colorado Rapids; Chattanooga, Tenn.), Brandan Craig (CF Montreal/CAN; Philadelphia, Pa.), Ethan Kohler (SC Verl/GER; Campbell, Calif.), Nolan Norris (FC Dallas; Fort Worth, Texas), Thomas Williams (Orlando City; Titusville, Fla.)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Santiago Castañeda (Paderborn/GER; Tampa, Fla.), Jackson Hopkins (D.C. United; Fredericksburg, Va.), Rokas Pukstas (Hajduk Split/CRO; Stillwater, Okla.), Brooklyn Raines (Houston Dynamo; Chicago, Ill.), Niko Tsakiris (San Jose Earthquakes; Saratoga, Calif.), Gerardo Valenzuela (FC Cincinnati; Boca Raton, Fla.)

FORWARDS (6): Cole Campbell (Borussia Dortmund/GER; Peachtree City, Ga.), Damion Downs (Southampton/ENG; Werneck, Germany), Zavier Gozo (Real Salt Lake; Eagle Mountain, Utah), Mykhi Joyner (St. Louis City; Bloomington, IL), Peyton Miller (New England Revolution; Unionville, Conn.), Darren Yapi (Colorado Rapids; Denver, Colo.)

 

Roster thoughts

 

Santiago Castaneda earned his first U.S. call-up at any age level. This is good news as he is an American player who came up through a developmental path that isn’t as common anymore with top young American players. He didn’t play in a professional academy, he played in high school, and he wasn’t part of any of the federation’s youth national teams. But he is a starter for a Paderborn team that currently leads the 2.Bundesliga. He is not eligible for the Olympic team but could be a USMNT option next cycle.  

Rokas Pukstas is another player who has found his footing after a tough season in 2024/25. He is also too old for the Olympics but is important to have playing games for the United States as he could be part of the USMNT after the World Cup.

Damion Downs has been part of the USMNT this year, including at the Gold Cup. But his transfer to Southampton has not gone well and this allows him to continue to be ready for the USMNT as he figures out his club situation

Darren Yapi was part of the U-20 World Cup team in 2023 but made his most significant strides as a professional player in 2025 with the Rapids where he scored seven goals. Like Downs, he is behind players such as Pepi and Balogun, but could emerge at a later age or if there are injuries.

 

It is expected that many of the players who were involved at the recent U-20 World Cup will be the backbone of the U-23 team for the 2028 Olympic team. Then following the 2027 U-20 World Cup, the top players from that squad will push for a spot.

In total, nine players on this roster were part of last month’s U-20 World Cup team. Diego Kochen would have made it 10 as he was named to the final roster but had to withdraw.

This is a smart step forward by U.S. Soccer both in terms of looking ahead to the Olympics, which will be very important in 2028 when it is played on home soil, and as a way of keeping prospects involved for the USMNT.

The Olympics will be the last of three big tournaments to be hosted on U.S. soil following the 2024 Copa America and the 2026 World Cup. It will serve as a way to break in the next generation of American players that follow Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams, and Weston McKennie. 

Unless the U.S. team plays in the Copa America that summer (and there have been no indications yet that will be the case), expect a list of top American players want to be among the three allowed overage players. 

The Olympics and the next World Cup cycle will be here before we know it. There needs to be an eye beyond the 2026 World Cup.

 

U.S. U-20 roster (2006) for November

Goalkeepers (2): Julian Eyestone (Brentford/ENG; Dallas, Texas), Andrew Rick (Philadelphia Union; Berwyn, Pa.)

Defenders (7): Freddie Anderson (Cork City/IRE; Manchester, England), Riley Dalgado (LA Galaxy; Redondo Beach, Calif.), Christian Diaz (LAFC; San Bernardino, Calif.), Stuart Hawkins (Seattle Sounders; Fox Island, Wash.), Sawyer Jura (Portland Timbers; Bend, Ore.), Owen Presthus (Hartford Athletic; Columbus, Ohio), Tahir Reid-Brown (Orlando City; Orlando, Fla.)

Midfielders (6): Devon Decorte (Anderlecht/BEL; Southampton, Pa.), Diego Garcia Murillo (FC Dallas; El Paso, Texas), Eric Klein (New England Revolution; Manheim, Pa.), Cruz Medina (San Jose Earthquakes; San Francisco, Calif.), Edwyn Mendoza (San Jose Earthquakes; San Jose, Calif.), CJ Olney (Philadelphia Union; Hillsborough, N.J.)

Forwards (5): Micah Burton (Austin FC; Mound View, Minn.),?Bajung Darboe (Bayern Munich/GER; Madison, Wisc.), Edward Davis (Philadelphia Union; Los Angeles, Calif.), Keyrol Figueroa (Liverpool/ENG; Warrington, England), Andre Gitau (Mainz/GER; Richmond, Texas)

 
Roster thoughts

 

These players all missed out on the 2025 U-20 World Cup but U.S. Soccer still wants them to be part of the system as the 2028 Olympics approaches.

Most of these players are still yet to break through at the first-team level with significant minutes aside from a few exceptions. But it will be interesting to see how this team performs with the Olympic cycle starting in full force in the fall.

Here are a few players I am following.

Bajung Darboe has been impressing with Bayern Munich’s second team and he remains one of the few players who have been sold for a transfer fee when the German giants paid LAFC to acquire him.

 

Andrew Rick is also an important goalkeeping prospect and he filled in very well for the Philadelphia Union when Andre Blake was injured. But Rick's inclusion as well as Eddy Davis and CJ Olney continue to show that the Philadelphia Union is a force in producing players for the USMNT and all of the various USYNTs. 

Keyrol Figueroa has begun to find his scoring touch again with the youth teams of Liverpool.

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