CASA GRANDE, Ariz. – Four Real Salt Lake – Arizona Academy players will travel to Carson, California on Friday for a pair of U-18 international friendlies. Sebastian Saucedo, Christian Herrera and Justen Glad are among the 24-players called into U.S. U-18 head coach Hugo Perez’s Men’s National Team, while Josh Doughty has been called in by Canadian U-18 head coach Rob Gale.
The friendlies will have a CONCACAF feel as the U.S. and Canada will be joined by Mexico. U.S. will face off with Canada on April 8th and Mexico on April 12th. After playing the U.S., Canada will square off against Mexico on April 10th.
This marks the second call-up for Herrera and Saucedo in 2014, as they both participated in the prestigious Copa del Atlantico in Las Palmas, Spain, in early February. They, along with Glad and teammate Doughty have helped guide the Real Salt Lake – Arizona U-15/16 Academy team to its strongest start in RSL-AZ’s four-year history.
Saucedo leads the U-15/16 age group in scoring with 20 goals. Doughty is second on the RSL-AZ U-15/16 team with 9 goals, while Glad has notched 5 goals. Herrera has earned 13 clean sheets through nineteen league starts. The RSL-AZ U-15/16 Academy team leads the Southwest Division and is the current #2 seed in the U-15/16 Playoff Pool.
U.S. U-18 Men’s National Team Squad:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Christian Herrera (Real Salt Lake – Arizona; Las Cruces, N.M.), Jonathan Klinsmann (Irvine Strikers; Newport Beach, Calif.), James Marcinkowski (San Jose Earthquakes; Alamo, Calif.)
DEFENDERS (8): David Chavez (De Anza Force; Redwood City, Calif.), Justen Glad (Real Salt Lake – Arizona; Tucson, Ariz.), Malcolm Jones (LA Galaxy; Chino Hills, Calif.), Quentin Pearson (Colorado Rapids; Longmont, Colo.), Pablo Pelaez (San Diego Surf; San Diego, Calif), Mauricio Pineda (Chicago Fire; Bolingbrook, Ill.), Alexander Ramos (LA Galaxy; Reseda, Calif.), Tommy Redding (Orlando City Soccer Club; Oviedo, Fla.)
MIDFIELDERS (9): Mukwelle Akale (Minnesota Thunder; Minneapolis, Minn.), Kyle Scott (Chelsea FC; Winterbourne, Bristol), Collin Fernandez (Chicago Fire; Downers Grove, Ill.), Patrick Jean-Giles (DC United; Lorton, Va.), Cameron Lindley (Chicago Fire; Carmel, Ind.), Stephen Payne (Chicago Magic; Birmingham, Ala.), Sebastian Saucedo (Real Salt Lake – Arizona; Casa Grande, Ariz.), Benjamin Swanson (Crew Academy; Grove City, Ohio), Jackson Yueill (Minnesota Thunder; Bloomington, Minn.)
FORWARDS (4): Coy Craft (FC Dallas; Frisco, Texas), Sebastian Elney (Boca United; Boca, Fla.), Christian Lucatero (Houston Dynamo; Pasadena, Texas), Jorge Ruiz (LA Galaxy; Mission Hills, Calif.)
Canada U-18 Men’s National Team Squad:
GOALKEEPERS (2): Dayne St. Clair (Ajax Soccer Club), Marvis Kreitling (Niendorfer TSV)
DEFENDERS (6) : Eric Davies (FC Dallas Academy), Andre Baires (Whitecaps FC Residency), Drake Rendle (Calgary South West United), Josh Cuthbert (Whitecaps FC Residency), Kyle Hiebert (WSA Winnipeg), Thomas Meilleur-Giguere (Académie Impact de Montréal)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Joshua Doughty (Real Salt Lake – Arizona Academy), Vana Markarian (Whitecaps FC Residency), Emmanuel Zambazis (Mississauga Soccer Club), David Choiniere (Académie Impact de Montréal), Darius Ramsay (Calgary Foothills), Dario Zanatta (Whitecaps FC Residency), Aymar Sigue (Whitecaps FC Residency)
FORWARDS (3): Jimmy-Shammar Sanon (Académie Impact de Montréal), Dayonn Harris (Woodbridge Soccer Club), Hayden Simmonds-O’Grady (Whitecaps FC Residency)