On Monday, Real Salt Lake set a club record by signing its youngest-ever first-team player, 15-year-old Jude Wellings. That record didn’t even last the week. RSL announced on Friday it had signed 14-year-old forward Axel Kei, who broke Freddy Adu’s record for youngest MLS player ever signed to a first-team contract.
Tuesday marks MLS SuperDraft day, and while it's always fun to see who your team adds and to pore over their college bio page, you ultimately want your club moving in the direction of producing and signing more Homegrown Players through its academy. Real Salt Lake did just that Monday with the addition of 15-year-old midfielder Jude Wellings — who becomes the club's youngest-ever first-team signing.
On Tuesday, 16-year-old Landon high school junior Kristian Fletcher was named The Washington Post's All-Met Player of the Year after the forward recorded nine assists and 26 goals, including the winner in the Interstate Athletic Conference championship game, in just 17 games.
Beginning in May 2022, the USL W League begins play with Minnesota’s community-owned soccer team among the competitors. The division is a pre-professional league that effectively represents the third-tier in America, behind the NWSL and the recently announced USL Super League.
Soccer moms tend to get the rough end of the stick when it comes to being the villain of youth soccer. While the mothers of the world are easy targets, some of the worst people at youth soccer games are the dads. A dad in California wins Asshole of the Day for tackling a referee during a U16 game over a call he didn’t like.
Like it or not, the fate of the USMNT is intrinsically linked with Major League Soccer. While there will always be players who jump straight to European football like Christian Pulisic, the U.S. men’s squad will always be comprised mostly of players who at some point in their careers have gone through the MLS ranks. For this reason, the league’s 22 Under 22 list of the best young MLS players is a road map for future USMNT success.
Back on Sept. 29, Michigan high school Benzie Central defeated Kingsley 17-0 in a match that was declared over at halftime. If that wasn’t sensational enough, how about this: 16 of the goals were scored by one player, making Kevin Hubbell the new national record holder in men's high school soccer.
The fact that the record was achieved by halftime has caused a national stir.
As a program that’s helped launch the careers of players like Newcastle United’s Santiago Muñoz, Necaxa’s Jonathan González and Holstein Kiel’s Nico Carrera, the Alianza de Futbol tour acts as the biggest showcase and scouting program for Latinx soccer players in the United States.
Real Salt Lake Academy's Axel Kei made his professional debut at age 13 on Friday night in Herriman, Utah.
The Ivory Coast-born striker was a second-half substitute for the USL Championship side Real Monarchs, entering in the 61st minute of a 0-0 draw against Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC.
At 13 years, nine months and nine days old, Kei is believed to be the youngest-ever player to make a professional appearance in American team sports.
If you haven’t seen a picture or video of the Portugal U21 scoreboard from a Euro qualifier against Liechtenstein on Thursday, I implore you to take a gander. Liechtenstein’s senior team is ranked 188th in the world. As a country with second lowest population among UEFA members, I honestly didn’t even know they had enough people for a U21 team.