This Wednesday, members of Republic FC’s Youth Development Academy teams will join the Fall U.S. Youth National Team Talent ID Center in Santa Clara, CA – providing a pathway to future Youth National Team call-ups. Ten Republic FC players from the 2008 and 2009 birth years – Felix Contreras, Chance Cowell, Preston Danquah-Appiah, Nacio Gutierrez, Luke Strassberg, Warren Boyce, Salem Chandler, Da’vian Kimbrough, Julian Nunez-Corona, and Preston Thao – each received the prestigious invite alongside over 30 others in each age group representing clubs across Northern California.
No other club had as many invitees as Republic FC’s 10, with the next closest club having nine participants invited. Earlier this season, Sacramento paced area clubs with 11 players invited to the June ID Center in Davis, CA, with two – Blake Willey and Felix Contreras – receiving Youth National Team call-ups in their respective age groups later in the summer. Republic FC continues to show well in Talent Identification camps, with 25% of all participants from the previous three regional ID Centers in May and November 2021, and June 2022 being from the club’s academy system.
Youth National Team ID Centers are not a call-up to the Youth National Team, but instead are a one-day session meant to replicate YNT camps and provide an evaluation platform for players to train and play games under the direction of U.S. Soccer Talent Identification Managers. The sessions serve as a critical part of the federation’s player identification and Youth National Team selection processes. ID centers are conducted while adhering to the strict U.S. Soccer Return to Play protocols regarding COVID-19.
