SANDY, Utah (Sunday, June 9, 2019) – Real Salt Lake DF Justen Glad, DF Aaron Herrera, DF/FW Brooks Lennon and FW Sebastian Saucedo were all called in to U.S. U-23 National Team camp by U.S. U-23 Head Coach Jason Kreis for the Olympic team’s upcoming camp at the Zions Bank Training Center in Herriman, Utah, from June 9-16.
“We’re very excited for Brooks, Aaron, Justen and Bofo,” Real Salt Lake Head Coach Mike Petke said. “They had an opportunity to go with the 23s earlier in the year but I wasn’t able to release them. Now with the Open Cup, we’ve decided to let them go because they’ve earned it and it’s a great opportunity for them going forward with the Olympic team.”
All four players developed in the Real Salt Lake Academy and previously represented the U.S. at the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup, reaching the quarterfinal round after winning the CONCACAF U-20 Championship earlier that year.
Glad, 22, is in his sixth season with Real Salt Lake and has started in eight matches this season, with RSL going 5-3-0 with a 1.25 goals against average in those matches. He now has 92 starts in 94 appearances in his MLS career, including a stretch of 50 consecutive starts from 2017-2018. In addition to his time with the U-20 National Team, he also appeared for the U.S. Youth National Teams at the U-18 and U-17 levels.
Herrera, 22, is in his second season with Real Salt Lake after logging 16 appearances, 14 as a starter, in his rookie campaign in 2018. Already with 14 starts in 15 appearances this season, he has surpassed his minutes played total from 2018 and earned his first career MLS assist on April 13 in a 2-1 win over Orlando City SC. He has 31 appearances and 28 starts in his two MLS seasons after a standout college career at the University of New Mexico. He made three appearances for the U.S. U-20 National Team in 2017 on its run through the CONCACAF U-20 Championships and the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Lennon, 21, is in his third season at Real Salt Lake. He earned RSL Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2018 after converting to right back and logging 32 starts. With eight starts in 14 appearances, he now has 55 starts out of his 73 career MLS appearances with three goals and nine assists. After playing at the RSL Academy, Lennon signed with Liverpool in England before returning to Real Salt Lake in 2017. In 2015-2017, he scored six goals in 11 appearances for the U.S. U-20 National Team after previously playing at the U-17 and U-18 levels, where he totaled eight goals in 11 appearances.
Saucedo, 22, has two goals and two assists in 13 appearances this season, six of them in a starting role. Now in his fourth season at RSL and fifth as a professional after spending one season on loan at Veracruz in Mexico, he has five goals and nine assists in 70 appearances, 22 as a starter. With the U.S. U-20s, he scored eight goals in 19 appearances from 2015-2017.
“With the qualifying cycle starting up ahead of next summer’s Olympics, it’s a great testament to the RSL Academy and these four players that they are in consideration to represent the U.S.,” RSL General Manager Craig Waibel said. “They made waves in the last U-20 cycle and have been important pieces to our success at RSL.”
The Utah training camp comes shortly after 13 U-23 MNT players joined the senior MNT in Annapolis, Md. for a combined summer training camp from May 26-June 2.
The gathering in Utah marks another step in the U-23 MNT’s long journey to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo as the USA aims to qualify for its first Men’s Olympic Football Tournament since 2008. The U.S. will look to secure its Olympic berth early next year as one of the top two teams at the 2020 Concacaf Olympic Qualifying Championship.
U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team Roster by Position (Club; Hometown)
GOALKEEPERS (3): JT Marcinkowski (San Jose Earthquakes; Alamo, Calif.), Andrew Thomas (Stanford University; London, England), Justin Vom Steeg (LA Galaxy; Santa Barbara, Calif.)
DEFENDERS (6): Marco Farfan (Portland Timbers; Gresham, Ore.), Justen Glad (Real Salt Lake; Tucson, Ariz.), Aaron Herrera (Real Salt Lake; Las Cruces, N.M.), Jack Maher (Indiana University; Caseyville, Ill.), Sam Rogers (Seattle Sounders FC; Seattle, Wash.), Auston Trusty (Philadelphia Union; Media, Pa.)
MIDFIELDERS (8): Brenden Aaronson (Philadelphia Union; Medford, N.J.), George Acosta (Unattached; Pembroke Pines, Fla.), Mukwelle Akale (Villarreal CF B; Minneapolis, Minn.), Cameron Lindley (Memphis 901 FC; Carmel, Ind.), Sebastian Saucedo (Real Salt Lake; Park City, Utah), Eryk Williamson (Portland Timbers; Alexandria, Va.), Jackson Yueill (San Jose Earthquakes; Bloomington, Minn.), Gedion Zelalem (Sporting Kansas City; Berlin, Germany)
FORWARDS (4): Brooks Lennon (Real Salt Lake; Paradise Valley, Ariz.), Benji Michel (Orlando City SC; Orlando, Fla.), Alfonso Ocampo Chavez (Seattle Sounders FC; Kent, Wash.), Giovanni Reyna (Unattached; Bedford, N.Y.)
Real Salt Lake is seventh in the Western Conference at 6-8-1 (19 points) and returns to MLS action on June 22 against the Chicago Fire at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois. First up, though, will be a match against LAFC in the Fourth Round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Tuesday, June 11. Kickoff in the Open Cup tilt is scheduled for 8 p.m. MT with live coverage on ESPN+ and locally on ESPN 700.
