via: The Athletic, Jacob Tanswell
Key Takeaways
- The U.S. Under-15 boys squad led England 3-1 before a 4-3 final defeat in a February camp in Cyprus, with scouts, agents and Premier League recruitment heads noting the tactical quality on display.
- 13 of 20 players on the roster come from MLS academies, with three from the Barca Residency Academy in Arizona, a full-time satellite program allied with FC Barcelona.
- Zamir Loyo Reynaga, a 14-year-old Sporting Kansas City midfielder, signed a professional contract through 2031 and became the youngest player to appear for the club’s reserve side at 14 years and 251 days.
- Five U.S. Under-15 players, including standout left-back Easton Odom, have already signed with global sports agency Wasserman.
- U.S. Soccer Sporting Director Matt Crocker, who described the national youth landscape as “disjointed” in September 2025, is building regional youth national teams and a formal coaching playbook to align development across the country.
Competing Against England at 14 Years Old
The U.S. Under-15 boys team spent seven days in Cyprus this month as part of U.S. Soccer’s “U.S. Way” development initiative, head coached by Ross Brady. They beat Cyprus 4-0 on February 12, then squared off against England, leading 3-1 before conceding late to lose 4-3.
Agents, scouts, and Premier League academy recruitment heads sitting in the stands noted how sharp the U.S. group looked technically and physically in the first half. The performance was not a fluke. It reflected coordinated development work that has been building across MLS academies and private residential programs for several years.
The 20-player roster, all born after January 1, 2011, represented 15 clubs. That breadth, combined with the quality on display, signals that player identification is becoming more systematic across a country where youth soccer has historically been fragmented.
The Barca Residency Factor
Three players on the Cyprus roster came from the Barca Residency Academy, a full-time residential program in Arizona operated in partnership with FC Barcelona. Coaches, strength and conditioning staff, and sports science personnel from Barcelona work directly with players on site. The 58,000-square-foot facility includes eight pitches, and educational programming is provided by Arizona State University Preparatory Academy.
Two of those three players, Easton Odom and Diego Ros, started the England match. Odom, a left-back who joined the residency in June 2025 from Rebels Soccer Club in California, drew praise from English agents watching on for his defensive discipline. Ros, wearing the No. 6, controlled the midfield with positional awareness that one agent described as reflecting “more finessed coaching and tactical understanding in North America.”
The residency is designed as a satellite pipeline, with top performers offered trial or training opportunities at Barcelona’s academy in Spain. Julian Araujo, now a Bournemouth right-back on loan at Celtic, is its most prominent graduate.
Young Pros and Early Representation
The business side of youth development is moving in parallel with the on-field progress. Loyo Reynaga, the Sporting Kansas City midfielder who made his reserve debut at age 14 years and 251 days, already holds a professional contract through 2031. Five players from this U-15 group have signed with Wasserman, one of the largest sports agencies in the world. Odom, who doesn’t turn 15 until October, already carries paid brand partnerships on his Instagram.
Under FIFA rules, agents can generally only sign or approach players born after January 1 of the academic year in which they turn 16, and contracts with minors require a parent or guardian signature. The activity around this group suggests top-level representation is prioritizing the pipeline early.
What the 2026 World Cup Could Unlock
U.S. Soccer’s development infrastructure is still a work in progress. Sporting Director Matt Crocker acknowledged in September 2025 that the landscape remains “disjointed,” given the variety of sanctioning bodies and club structures operating independently across the country. His proposed solutions include six to eight regional youth national teams and a formal coaching playbook to standardize player development.
The under-15 group in Cyprus represents one of the first cohorts moving through this more intentional framework. Their performance against England demonstrates that the tactical and technical standard is rising. Whether that improvement translates to senior international results will depend on consistent execution over the next decade, and on how the visibility and investment generated by the 2026 World Cup on U.S. soil shapes the sport’s growth in the years that follow.
Source: The Athletic, Jacob Tanswell, February 17, 2026
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