HERRIMAN, Utah (Monday, February 3, 2025) - Real Salt Lake Academy announce that goalkeeper Will Mackay, midfielder Luca Moisa, midfielder Axel Uriostegui , and defender Gio Villa have been named to the United States Youth U-17 National Team Roster for the upcoming CONCACAF U17 Qualifiers Tournament in Costa Rica. RSL Academy midfielder Antonio Riquelme has also been invited to camp as a alternate.
The quintet returns to head coach Gonzalo Segares during the first international call-up of the 2025 calendar year. This year’s CONCACAF U17 Qualifiers Tournament consists of three group stage matches all at Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto in the host city Alajuela, Costa Rica starting on February 10th.
USYNT will make their qualifier debut against Group F opponents, US Virgin Islands on Feb. 10 before playing St Kitts and Nevis on Feb. 12 and closing out the group stage on Feb. 15 against Cuba.
Mackay, 16, is coming off of his most prevalent season in the professional game. The amateur goalkeeper notched four shutouts in 14 games with the Monarchs during the 2024 season as a frequent Academy call-up. Mackay, a Utah native made 32 saves during 1260 minutes of action with a 64% save percentage. Under Mark Lowry and Real Monarchs’ new tactic of 4-2-3-1 and the heightened importance of the building of the back, Mackay completed 83.7% of his passes and 28.3% of his long ball attempts.
Moisa, 16, returns to Segares squad after being called up four times during the 2024 calendar year coming off a 17 appearance MLS NEXT Pro campaign. The American-Romanian dual-national notched eight starts and 829 minutes in his 17 appearances. Moisa, a crafty midfielder completed 86.8% of his passes notching his first professional assist during a 1-2 loss to North Texas on June 30.
Villa, 17, reports to the Stars-and-Stripes coming off of his debut professional season with the Monarchs. Villa made his professional debut subbing on in the second half of a 1-0 win over Vancouver on Apr 28th. The American defender earned his only start of the year the following week in a 2-3 loss to LAFC2 on May 5th.
Uriostegui, 17 returns to international football for the first time since last April while Riquelme, 16, makes his first international appearance ever for Coach Segres. Both contribute heavily to RSL Academy’s U-18 squad competing in MLS NEXT competitions. Riquelme spent a portion of the 2024 Summer break at Blitzer ownership sibling Crystal Palace training and appearing in a series of friendlies with the U-17 squad across the pond before returning to the Claret-and-Cobalt for the 2024-2025 season.
2025 CONCACAF U-17 CHAMPIONSHIP ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB; HOMETOWN)
GOALKEEPERS (3): Jack Kortkamp (Sporting KC; Olathe, Kan.), William Mackay (Real Salt Lake; Highland, Utah), Owen Pratt (LA Galaxy; San Clemente, Calif.)
DEFENDERS (6): Christopher Cupps (Chicago Fire FC; Chicago, Ill.), Jordan Griffin (Philadelphia Union; West Chester, Pa.), Pedro Guimaraes (Orange County SC; Aliso Viejo, Calif.), Ramiz Hamouda (Birmingham Legion FC; Lincoln, Neb.), Enrique Martinez (LA Galaxy; Compton, Calif.), Gio Villa (Real Salt Lake; Chicago, Ill.)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Maximo Carrizo (New York City FC; Greenwich, Conn.), Kellan LeBlanc (Philadelphia Union; Royersford, Pa.), Luca Moisa (Real Salt Lake; Las Vegas, Nev.), Cooper Sanchez (Atlanta United FC; Holly Springs, Ga.), Cristiano Oliveira (New England Revolution; Somerville, Mass.), Jude Terry (Los Angeles FC; San Diego, Calif.)
FORWARDS (6): Chase Adams (Columbus Crew; Naperville, Ill.), Lorenzo Cornelius (St. Louis City SC; St. Peters, Mo.), Chance Cowell (San Jose Earthquakes; Ceres, Calif.) Jamir Johnson (Philadelphia Union; Huntsville, Ala.), Tanner Rosborough (New York Red Bulls; McDonald, Pa.), Axel Uriostegui (Real Salt Lake; Las Vegas, Nev.)
The squad features players from 15 clubs, including 13 from Major League Soccer. Real Salt Lake leads the contributors with four players. Three alternates will travel with the U.S. to Costa Rica to train with the team prior to the tournament: Houston Dynamo FC defender Micah Harris, Chicago Fire FC defender Chase Nagle and Real Salt Lake midfielder Antonio Riquelme.
Players born on or after Jan. 1, 2008 are age-eligible for the 2025 Concacaf U-17 Qualifiers and all 21 players selected were born in 2008.
The MLS NEXT regular season is in full swing for RSL Academy, the U-18 squad most recently falling to Portland Timbers 3-4 on the road last saturday. Despite having recently made the jump from the U-17 to U-18 level, after MLS NEXT changed its age divisions, the group has logged significant minutes in MLS NEXT play. The quintet will hope to continue their good form through training camp and into MLS NEXT Generation Adidas Cup this spring.
