Photo Kevin Barrett
Thursday, October 16th, the Philadelphia Union organization received tremendous recognition for the quality of its player development process. The US Men’s U17 squad for the 2025 FIFA U17 World Cup in Qatar this November was announced, and there were four Union players on it. Four players means Philadelphia is the club best represented, decisively. Second-best is two, a distinction shared among LA Galaxy, New York Red Bull, and Real Salt Lake. It’s a blessing and a curse.
All three levels of the Union’s development process are included. Attacking midfielder Cavan Sullivan (16.1-years-old) is on a first-team contract. Sullivan’s usual stand-in fellow attacking mid Kellen LeBlanc (17.6), is on a second-team contract. Attacking mid Jamir Johnson (17.3) and left back Jordan Griffin (17.0) are both Union academy amateurs.
The Philadelphia quartet will join U17 pre-camp Tuesday, October 21st in the United Arab Emirates and then move to Qatar for the tournament itself on Saturday, November 1st. The event’s group stage ends on Tuesday, November 11th, with – among many other group stage third games – the US’s third game, against Czechia.
English language broadcasts of US matches are planned to be available on FOX Sports platforms with specific channels to be announced later. By then Qatar should be six hours ahead of Philadelphia not seven since US daylight savings will have disappeared for the winter. The change should have occurred before the opening US match on Wednesday, November 5th against Burkina Faso. In the middle match on Saturday, November 8th, the US plays Tajikistan.
The downside
Forty-eight teams will participate, meaning the knockout stage begins with 32 of them having advanced. The knockouts consist of five rounds over nearly two weeks.
The cloud in the Union’s player development sky is that all four players would miss the rest of Philadelphia Union II’s playoff run should it continue after the opening match this Sunday the 19th against FC Cincinnati 2. The U17 world cup group stage ends two days after MLSNEXTOro cup will be played.
If Philly advances, head coach Ryan Richter has Kaiden Moore available to step in for Griffin at left back. But his replacements for three of his attacking midfielders are not as easily anticipated. LeBlanc and Sullivan are two of his top three at the position. The remaining AM starter Markus Anderson will have to be a wheel-horse. Willyam Ferreira may get baptized by playoff fire, and Leandro Soria’s 90-minute endurance capacity may be thoroughly tested. Our other best guesses are that Eddy Davis might drop back a line out of the striker rotation, or that CJ Olney might move up a line relying on Oscar Benitez to step in at defensive mid. Olney would provide the most experience at the position.
Whatever Richter’s choice, should Union II advance, we suspect they will play short-handed yet again.
Hopefully Philadelphia’s boys in Qatar will earn good amounts of playing time. Since the tournament requires playing on the third day after the previous match ends, that probability increases.
Four players out of the current total US roster of 21 is almost one out of every five. Philly’s scouting department members each deserves more than one free diet iced tea.
Comments