The U.S. National Team will use its friendly against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Sunday as a proving ground for many young players who will be looking to make their full international debuts in the January camp finale at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
In the middle of that youth movement is where you’ll find the Real Salt Lake trio of Justen Glad, Danny Acosta and Brooks Lennon. Those three are among 15 players called in by Dave Sarachan as the U.S. looks to build a team capable of making a return to the FIFA World Cup in 2022 after missing out on the tournament this year.
“It’s been a crazy journey but it’s ended up here, so no complaints. It’s been really cool taking those steps from the U-17s to the U-20s and then getting the nod to the full team,” Glad told USsoccer.com. “It’s nice to see hard work pay off like that when you, step by step, put in the work and then you get recognized for it. It’s an honor.”
The RSL trio is also among 20 players aged 24 and under. A group that has been virtually joined at the hip since their days at the Real Salt Lake Academy in Arizona in 2014, Acosta, Glad and Lennon were joined by former academy teammates Aaron Herrera and Sebastian Saucedo at the FIFA U-20 World Cup last year and now are hopeful of earning their first camps with the senior national team.
“Experiences like this are fun, but when you have two of your good friends here it makes it even better,” Glad said. “It would be a dream come true. That’s the goal of this camp, to be on that final roster. I’ll be grinding every day to force his hand and make sure I get picked. We’ll see what happens.”
Sunday’s match kicks off at 7:30 p.m. MT (FS1, UniMas and UDN). Fans can also follow the game live on Twitter at @ussoccer and @ussoccer_esp.
