The United States U-17 men’s national team heads into Tuesday’s decisive Concacaf qualifier against the Dominican Republic with momentum and a World Cup ticket within reach.
On Saturday in Kingstown, the U.S. overwhelmed St. Kitts and Nevis 10–0, following up an earlier 8–0 win over Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to seize control of Group E at the 2026 Concacaf U-17 Qualifiers. Philadelphia Union forward Malik Jakupovic was the standout in the rout, scoring five times and adding an assist as the Americans outshot St. Kitts and Nevis by a massive margin and controlled nearly all of the ball. The Dominican Republic, for its part, has shown its own attacking punch with a 5–0 win over St. Kitts and Nevis, setting up a final-day meeting that will decide who takes the group’s direct berth to the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar.
The United States will face the Dominican Republic on Tuesday, February 10 at Arnos Vale Stadium, with kickoff scheduled for 1 p.m. ET and television coverage on FS2 for U.S.-based viewers. A draw is enough to send the U.S. through as group winner, thanks to a commanding goal differential built on back-to-back clean sheets and 18 unanswered goals across the first two matches.
Who makes up this U.S. U-17 team?
Head coach Alex Aldaz has assembled a 21-player squad that reflects the current structure of the American development pipeline: heavy representation from MLS academies, a meaningful presence from USL Championship clubs, and a small but growing European influence. The roster pulls from 14 different clubs, including 10 MLS organizations; Houston Dynamo and LA Galaxy lead the way with three players each, while Columbus Crew and Philadelphia Union each send two. Two players—defender Tyson Espy and midfielder Landry Walker—come from USL Championship sides Orange County SC and San Antonio FC, and winger William Ostrander represents Dutch giant PSV Eindhoven.
All 21 players have MLS NEXT experience, underscoring how central that league has become as the shared top tier for elite youth development in the United States. The group skews young but advanced: players born on or after January 1, 2009 are eligible, and all but one on the U.S. roster were born in 2009, with LA Galaxy midfielder Vicente Garcia the lone 2010-born player. Geographically, the team reflects where the professional infrastructure is strongest—eight players from California, five from Texas, and the remainder from soccer-rich pockets like New York, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan.
Several names already have meaningful professional minutes. Five players—defender Daniel Barrett, forwards Mattheo Dimareli and Malik Jakupovic, and midfielders Peter Molinari and Kaedren Spivey—logged more than 400 minutes in MLS NEXT Pro last season, while others have debuted in the USL Championship. That early exposure to senior environments is part of why this U-17 side looks physically and tactically mature despite its age profile.
How the top of the U.S. youth soccer pyramid functions
This roster is also a live case study of how the top of the U.S. development pyramid operates in 2026. At the base are mass-participation youth leagues and travel clubs; from there, the most ambitious players move into elite regional environments like ECNL and high-level local clubs before intersecting with MLS NEXT and USL academies. MLS NEXT now anchors the top of the youth ladder, with MLS academies, elite independent clubs, and a growing number of USL academies competing in the same national platform that feeds directly into MLS NEXT Pro, USL first teams, and ultimately MLS.
The U-17 pool is drawn almost entirely from those top rungs: MLS academies with Homegrown pathways, independent MLS NEXT clubs that regularly face MLS opposition, USL academies offering an alternative pro track, and a small number of overseas academies like PSV. From there, youth national team identification and international competitions such as this Concacaf qualifying tournament become both a reward and a further filter, highlighting the players and clubs that are best navigating the modern U.S. pyramid from grassroots to the professional game.