FEATURE: San Jose Earthquakes are Most Represented Club with U.S. Youth National Teams

This week and last, U.S. Soccer announced rosters for camps and competitions at the U15, U17, U19 and U20 youth national team levels. The San Jose Earthquakes, with 11 total players called up, have contributed the most players among all MLS clubs, and by some margin. In fact, only four other teams are even contributing half the number of players that the Quakes are.

Sixteen-year-olds Niko Tsakiris (U20) and Emi Ochoa (U19) are the two first team players included, with nine current and former Quakes Academy players making up the rest. Tarun Karumanchi, a defensive midfielder heading into his freshman season at UCLA, is the only player not currently competing for the club at some level.

In addition to being the most represented overall, San Jose is the only club to have multiple players included at each of the four camps, showing the strength of their entire youth pipeline.

Below are the Earthquakes players called to represent the United States:

U15 National Team

Owen Anderson – Midfielder, Quakes U15

Rohan Rajagopal – Midfielder, Quakes U15

U17 National Team

Fidel Barajas – Forward, Quakes U17

Cruz Medina – Midfielder, Quakes U17

Edwyn Mendoza – Midfielder, Quakes U17

Oscar Verhoeven – Defender, Quakes U17

U19 National Team

Ethan Kohler – Defender/Midfielder, Quakes Academy U17/Earthquakes II (MLS NEXT Pro)

Emi Ochoa – Goalkeeper, San Jose Earthquakes (MLS)

Nathan Rodrigues – Defender, Quakes Academy U17

U20 National Team

Tarun Karumanchi – Midfielder, UCLA (former Quakes Academy)

Niko Tsakiris – Midfielder, San Jose Earthquakes (MLS)

San Jose isn’t just sending players to compete for the United States, though. Quakes Academy players are also representing six other countries across North America, South America and Europe:

Defender Alejandro Cano to El Salvador U20

Midfielder Allan Juarez to Guatemala U20

Forward Diego Otoya to Peru U20

Defender Tristan Viviani to Malta U20 (former U.S. U17/U20)

Defender Lorenzo Avalos to Iceland U17 (former U.S. U14)

Midfielder Oliver Hernandez to Mexico U16 (former U.S. U15)