This week, a group of Republic FC Academy players get a unique opportunity to show their skills for U.S. Youth National Team staff and talent evaluators. Nine players from the 2008 and 2009 birth years – Felix Contreras, Chance Cowell, Saul Cuellar, Preston Danquah-Appiah, Kevin Gonzalez Perez, Nacio Gutierrez, Damian Linarez, Ranfateh Singh, and Luke Strassburg – have been invited to this month’s Youth National Team Regional ID Center on Wednesday in Plesanton, CA.
The players invited are part of a group of 32 players who received the invite from clubs across Northern California. Recently, Republic FC has paced area clubs with the most players invited; in 2022, the club had 11 players selected to the Spring Regional ID Center, and 10 to the Fall. The nine players selected to this week’s session are the second-most of any club represented.
ID Centers are an important part of the US Youth National Team pathway for talented players. The one-day session provides players a platform to showcase their play for YNT Talent Identification managers, and potentially earn future selections to national team rosters and camps. So far in 2023, four Republic FC Academy players have been selected to participate in national team programs, with each having participated in previous Regional ID Center sessions.
