Marko Mitrovic has announced his 23-player roster for one of the final preparatory camps ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.
Paxten Aaronson, Bernard Kamungo, and Ben Cremaschi headlined Mitrovic’s 23-player roster for October friendlies against Mexico and Japan. Mexico will oppose the Americans on Oct. 11 before Japan does so on Oct. 17 at Phoenix Rising Stadium.
A total of nine players included in the USMNT U-23 roster have made their senior national team debut to date. Gianluca Busio leads all players with 13 senior caps, while Aaronson and Cremaschi are among several others to have featured for the senior team.
Several 2022 MLS NEXT Pro standouts were also named on the roster including FC Dallas’ Bernard Kamungo, New England Revolution’s Esmir Bajraktarevic, and Columbus Crew’s Patrick Schulte.
Mitrovic was announced as head coach of the USMNT U-23’s earlier this summer. The former U.S. Under-19 men’s national team head coach will lead the Americans into their first Olympic involvement since 2008.
Thanks to the USMNT U-20’s 3-0 victory over Honduras at the 2022 Concacaf U-20 Championship, the Americans will make the trip to Paris next summer.
Here is a closer look at the USMNT U-23 roster:
GOALKEEPERS: Christopher Brady (Chicago Fire FC; Naperville, Ill.), John Pulskamp (Sporting KC; Bakersfield, Calif.), Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew; St. Charles, Mo.)
DEFENDERS: Maximilian Dietz (SpVgg Greuther Furth/GER; Frankfurt, Germany), Nathan Harriel (Philadelphia Union; Oldsmar, Fla.), Bryan Reynolds (Westerlo/BEL; Fort Worth, Texas), John Tolkin (New York Red Bulls; Chatham, N.J.), Jonathan Tomkinson (Bradford City/ENG; Plano, Texas), Caleb Wiley (Atlanta United FC; Atlanta, Ga.)
MIDFIELDERS: Paxten Aaronson (Eintracht Frankfurt/GER; Medford, N.J.), Gianluca Busio (Venezia/ITA; Greensboro, N.C.), Benjamin Cremaschi (Inter Miami CF; Key Biscayne, Fla.), Jack McGlynn (Philadelphia Union; Queens, N.Y.), Aidan Morris (Columbus Crew; Ft Lauderdale, Fla.), Tanner Tessmann (Venezia/ITA; Birmingham, Ala.), Obed Vargas (Seattle Sounders FC; Anchorage, Alaska)
FORWARDS: Esmir Bajraktarevic (New England Revolution; Appleton, Wisc.), Taylor Booth (Utrecht/NED; Eden, Utah), Johan Gomez (Eintracht Braunschweig/GER; Keller, Texas), Brian Gutierrez (Chicago Fire FC; Chicago, Ill.), Bernard Kamungo (FC Dallas; Abilene, Texas), Duncan McGuire (Orlando City SC; Omaha, Neb.), Indiana Vassilev (St. Louis City SC; Savannah, Ga.)
Matthew Hoppe? He’s replaced Cowell as the starting LW for San Jose although Cowell does have to be gassed from all his international duty in 2023. Cowell only has 1g in MLS this season.
Craig has been added to the roster. I don’t think he’s played since being loaned to Austin in July so….
Not much in quality of “#9’s”
I wonder if U-23’s going with : Tessmann, Busio and Paxten midfield, I would rather see Vargas over Busio.
And too bad Neal is still hurt for CB, and Craig is ignore by his team, Wynder and Henry maybe didn’t get release, hopefully Dietz and Tompkins pair well and played entire of games.
Aziel Jackson should get a look with this team too.
Pretty good roster that will certainly be competitive in Paris. I think we all knew that ST and CB would be light areas, thus requiring and benefitting from the use of overage players in those spots. If we’re able to call up this roster, with a few agreed upon surprises from their clubs, along with the right overage players we will medal….book it
There is no way Greg is letting Pepi go to the Olympics, he’s too important to the senior team, but 2 options I’d like to see go to Paris at ST would be Brandon Vazquez and Josh Sargent, or Haji Wright. In the back at CB, Mark McKenzie, EPB or John Brooks would be fantastic picks, and would solidify that roster
Sargent would be a good option for one of the over age players. Not sure if I’d waste one of the over aged spots on Vazquez or Wright (I don’t rate either much).
CB is a worry even with the over age players. I’d love to see Brooks, but that’s never going to happen. Richards, Robinson, CCV, & Ream will be with the Sr. Team for Copa America. Neither EPB or McKenzie have done well when with the USMNT….so guessing it’ll be Zimmerman or Long who’ll be asked to anchor the defense w/ Neal (when healthy).
The last over age player will be a challenge to predict. It’s usually a GK but we’ve got 2 quality options who are age eligible. So I’d guess it’ll depend on where the coach believes the biggest weakness is once they know who’s going tot be released from their clubs.
Zimmerman’s as good a leader and as high-character and positive a presence as there is in the American pool…he’s almost 100% a lock if he’s willing unless there’s injuries in the senior team and he’s required for Copa America.
Agree with Ronniet on Vasquez. I personally do rate Vasquez – he was just a late bloomer so in many ways he’s still a young player like the others – he’s very much still improving. He’s also an Alpha dog, very positive and high-character himself, and he’s a predator who tends to dominate when up against weaker competition (his biggest problem is polish and fine-tuning, he’s still a bit raw around the edges). And big strikers tend to have longer (sometimes far longer, see Zlatan, Drogba, Giroud, and any number of others) careers than speed guys who are usually done by 30 or 31 anyway. I can see Vasquez continuing to develop the next couple seasons and potentially still factoring even when he’s 35 or 36 so he may still have more career in front of him even than some of the younger players on the roster. The whole point of the Olympics is to develop the next gen and I do think Vasquez could well factor in that.
Those two are kind of the obvious slam-dunks, to me. The third guy…I genuinely don’t know. We’re STRONG in the midfield. Like Lost said, it’ll probably be situational based on who’s hurt and who isn’t released.
a respectable roster considering clubs weren’t required to release players. Central defense is a bit of a concern with this age group as no-one has really stood out; with the possible exception of Neal. CF is another position of concern with this age group unless Pepi can be added for the actual Olympic games.
A bit thin at CB. Duncan Mcguire is a rising star. Really like the look of Kamungo. Hope they play well and have fun.
Yeah, I only count 2 CBs. Kamungo like Booth has been hurt. I recommend Twellman’s pod with Bernard and his brother. Great story.