U.S. U-15 Men’s Youth National Team opens new cycle with training camp in Florida

CHICAGO – The U.S. Under-15 Men’s Youth National Team will kick off a new cycle for 2010-birth year players from Oct. 13-19 at a training camp in West Palm Beach, Fla. U-15 MYNT head coach Tom Heinemann has called 24 players to South Florida.

Players born on or after Jan. 1, 2010 are age-eligible for this one-year U-15 MYNT cycle, running from Aug. 1-July 31 to parallel the youth club soccer calendar. All 24 players selected for camp were born in 2010. As one of U.S. Soccer’s youngest Youth National Teams, the U-15s serve an important role in the Federation’s mission to develop winning teams by helping build the foundation of the MYNT player pool.

The roster features players from 16 Major League Soccer clubs, led by four players from Chicago Fire FC and three from the Colorado Rapids. Two players each come from the LA Galaxy, Philadelphia Union and Sporting Kansas City.

GOALKEEPERS (3): Zach Crider (FC Cincinnati; Cincinnati, Ohio), Connor Dale (Inter Miami CF; West Palm Beach, Fla.), Jason Nemo (Chicago Fire FC; Evanston, Ill.)

DEFENDERS (8): Luca Antongirolami (Sporting Kansas City; Kansas City, Mo.), Slate Collins (LAFC; Beaumont, Calif.), Oluwaseyitan Fakiyesi (Atlanta United FC; Marietta, Ga.), Alexander Hernandez Bautista (Colorado Rapids; Denver, Colo.), Orion Jolliff (San Jose Earthquakes; Ceres, Calif.), Justus Jones (FC Dallas; Prosper, Texas), Owen Jorgensen (St. Louis City SC; St. Louis, Mo.), Chris Thompson (Philadelphia Union; Gloucester Township, N.J.)

MIDFIELDERS (7): Finn Dean (Sporting Kansas City; Independence, Mo.), Samuel Diaz Gallego (Philadelphia Union; Richmond, Va.), Vicente Garcia (LA Galaxy; West Covina, Calif.), Christopher Morales (Chicago Fire FC; Chicago, Ill.), Nathan Tchoumba (Colorado Rapids; Aurora, Colo.), Robert Turdean (Chicago Fire FC; Niles, Ill.), Niccolo Vafiades (New York City FC; Pelham, N.Y.)

FORWARDS (6): Chato Cerda (Chicago Fire FC; Milwaukee, Wisc.), Ikenna Chidebe (LA Galaxy; Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.), Jamil Danjaji (Columbus Crew; Columbus, Ohio), Da’vian Kimbrough (Sacramento Republic FC; Woodland, Calif.), Nolan Nguyen (Colorado Rapids; Denver, Colo.) Sebastiao Nzita (Houston Dynamo FC; Pearland, Texas)

All 24 players called to Florida were a part of national identification camps in March and May as part of the Under-14 Talent ID program. Those camps featured 80 players, 20 from each of U.S. Soccer’s four scouting regions- East, Central, South and West. For this first U-15 camp, 11 players come from the Central region, five from the West, four from the South and three from the East.

Chicago Fire FC midfielder Robert Turdean was a part of the last U-15 cycle, playing up with the 2009-birth year age group. Turdean and club teammate Christopher Morales helped the Fire win the 2024 U-15 MLS NEXT Cup last summer in Nashville, Tenn.