Photo courtesy Philadelphia Union II communications
This September there are 14 international call-ups from the Philadelphia Union organization, so many htat the raw data can be confusing.
The confusion exists in large part because, without much publicity, U.S. Soccer has instituted a new type of youth national team camp called an Identity Camp. An identity camp is an invitation only, all expenses paid event focused on identifying talent to add into the various youth national team pipelines, male and female.
Given these newly added events and with the help of a knowledgeable source, we summarize September 2025’s international call ups from the Union itself, Union II, and the Union’s Academy. Our summary below is entirely unofficial.
Fourteen players are involved. First, we organize the call-ups by their Union roster sources. Second, we list them by team, to most clearly differentiate those going to regular camps from those going to the new identity camps. Regular camp participants would seem likely to have already made the team, to the extent that any such status can ever be said to be settled. Identity Camp participants are more strongly candidates for future participation rather than already chosen current ones.
In our first treatment below Identity camp participants are asterisked (*). The given field positions reflect the Union’s habits, not necessarily those of the national team coaches. All data is current as of August 31st, 2025.
Rostered to the Union itself (9).
- Tai Baribo, S – Israel
- Danley Jean Jacques, DM – Haiti
- Nathan Harriel, D – US of A
- Frank Westfield, RB – US U20s
- Cavan Sullivan, AM – US U17s
- Andrew Rick, GK – US U20s Identity Camp*
- Sal Olivas, S – US U20s Identity Camp*
- Eddy Davis, S – US U20s Identity Camp*
- Neil Pierre, CB, — US U19s Identity Camp*
Rostered to Union II (3).
- Kellan LeBlanc, AM – US U17s
- Kaiden Moore, D – US U19s Identity Camp*
- Malik Jakupovic, S – US U17s Identity Camp*
Rostered to the Union Academy (2).
- Jamir Johnson, AM/S – US U17s
- Matthew White, GK – US U17s Identity Camp*
Here are the players classified by their various international camps.
Israel (UEFA World Cup qualification)
- Tai Baribo, S
Haiti (Concacaf World Cup Qualification)
- Danley Jean Jacques, DM
U. S. of A. (World Cup preparation friendlies)
- Nathan Harriel, RB/CB
US U20s (Preparation for FIFA’s U20s World Cup this September and October in Chile.)
- Frank Westfield, OB
US U20s Identity Camp (Being evaluated for the US U20s above, we presume)
- Andrew Rick, GK
- Sal Olivas, S
- Eddy Davis, S
US U19s Identity Camp (Also being evaluated for the US U20s above, we presume)
- Neil Pierre, CB
- Kaiden Moore, D
US U17s (Preparation for FIFA’s U17s World Cup this November in Qatar)
- Jamir Johnson, AM/S
- Kellan LeBlanc, AM
- Cavan Sullivan, AM
US U17s Identity Camp (Being evaluated for the U17s above, we presume)
- Matthew White, GK
- Malik Jakupovic, S
Great stuff!
Not this window, but the assumed call up for Westfield to the U-20 WC is why Union should have signed another CB instead of relying on Harriel as the 3rd CB. Had Makhanya’s suspension occurred during U-20 WC period, the options to fill in at RB or CB are not what you want during the stretch run where every point matters.
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All that said, it’s great to see so many players from the organization called up to play for their respective countries.
This is great information, thanks Tim. I wonder whether some of these young players would benefit more if the bright lights of USSoccer[TM] would simply leave them alone to spend more time with their clubs. Is Andrew Rick really going to improve during his time away from the Union? I mean, it’s not hard to see his “identity” emerging; the guy is playing his ass off. How will Westfield benefit from playing against other U20s when he’s already looking great against fully grown men?
Aside from the Union’s philosophical arguments which I assume are well known, … .
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Rick would be exposed to a different level of big game pressure were he to get to go to Chile. And he is competing in practice against a different group of keepers for game time. They are almost certainly better than the Union’s reserve goalies.
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Westfield should get a chance to assert himself as an impact player, were all to go well.
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Your point about depth among the defenders is well taken, Osager. Neil Pierre might get a baptism by fire, and I’m not yet certain myself that he is yet entirely ready for it. There have been two blips in this year’s record that are of concern.