Tonight when the U.S. U-23 National Team meets Mexico in a friendly at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., Real Salt Lake defender Boyd Okwuonu will have a much easier time approaching the match than he did for his last call-up to the squad that is preparing for Olympic qualifying later this year.
A late call-up to Andreas Herzog’s team for last month’s matches against Bosnia and Denmark, Okwuonu had a mere three hours between when he was called at seven in the morning and when he was at the airport with a destination of Bosnia. Then, within 24 hours of landing, he played 90 minutes against Bosnia’s U-23 side in a 5-2 win for the U.S.
“It was very short notice. I was asleep and I got the call to pack my bags because I was going to Bosnia,” Okwuonu said. “I was still half-asleep and I hung up the phone. I just stared at the ceiling. I couldn’t tell if it was real or not.”
Okwuonu is no stranger to unique international trips as part of his experience with U.S. Youth National Teams though. In 2009, he was named to the U.S. U-17 National Team for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. While it is always an honor to wear the jersey of the Stars and Stripes, it held extra meaning in that tournament – it was held in Nigeria, where Okwuonu’s parents were from and where he himself briefly lived as a child.
“There were so many emotions hitting me from different places,” he said, shaking his head.
In front of some distant family that he hadn’t seen in years, Okwuonu appeared in one of four matches for the U.S., who lost in the Round of 16 to Italy. With that experience in tow, the defender has made the climb to the MLS ranks and remains a steady option for Herzog for the qualifying tournament in the Fall.
Okwuonu was a second-round draft pick for Real Salt Lake in January after four standout seasons with the University of North Carolina. Though he has not yet appeared for the MLS club, he has appeared on loan for Real Monarchs in the USL.
That opportunity is helping his continued maturation at the professional level.
“I think it’s more of a day-to-day thing. There’s no time off. There’s no breaks. It wasn’t a hard transition, because I come with a hard-working mentality. But it’s still a transition,” he said. “I just need to keep developing, keep getting better, keep moving forward. I just focus on improving every day.”
The U.S. U-23s kick off against Mexico at 9 p.m. MT and the match can be seen live on Univision Deportes.
