The Seattle Sounders FC Academy U-16 squad is headed to Frisco, Texas, for the knockout stage of the 2016-17 edition of Generation adidas Cup, which begins on Friday. The premier showcase for MLS Academy U-17 sides in the country, the young Sounders will square off against New York City FC, Saprissa (Costa Rica) and Pumas UNAM (Mexico).
Since GA Cup serves as a showcase for the future stars of Major League Soccer, the Academy staff has used this year’s edition as an opportunity to promote, and ultimately accelerate the development of, the youngest players in the system with the highest ceilings.
“We’re really happy that we’re playing against foreign opponents, it will be really interesting for us to play against Saprissa and Pumas,” said Sounders Academy Technical Director Marc Nicholls. “GA Cup is the highest level of soccer we can play in, so we’re trying to take our best and brightest prospects to give them a world-class experience.”
The Sounders Academy staff has prioritized development over results in recent years at GA Cup, and this decision has elevated some of the most promising young talents in the Rave Green youth system onto the national stage.
After the second round of 2015-16 GA Cup qualifying, a total of four Sounders Academy players — winger Stirling Russell, right back Ben Huynh and midfielders Kei Tomozawa and Sam Rogers — earned their first call-ups to U.S. youth national team programs.
The Academy staff has decided to bring 12 players from the U-14s and U-15s to the qualifying rounds of this year’s GA Cup. The trio of Alfonso Ocampo-Chavez (U-14), Josh Atencio (U-14) and Danny Robles (U-14) have all become regulars with the Sounders U-16s and U.S. U-15s after impressing in the qualifying phase. Since the first round of qualifying, the Sounders U-16s have regularly fielded the youngest team in the country among all USSDA squads. In fact, the coaching staff has brought along Sota Kotahara, a No. 6 eligible for Sounders Discovery Program (U-13) and who plays up on the Sounders and U.S. U-14s, to evaluate his development under the bright lights of GA Cup.
An additional new wrinkle to the upcoming event is the addition of a concurrent U-12 showcase event. The Sounders Discovery Program U-12 squad will face the likes of the New York Red Bulls, New England Revolution, Houston Dynamo and Malaga C.F. (Spain) in round-robin group play.
GA Cup has served as a stage for the best young prospects to have breakout tournaments. The last two versions of GA Cup alone have seen six Sounders Academy prospects called in to U.S. national teams for their impressive displays.
The young Sounders’ full schedule, and links to stream matches, can be found here.
