The schools and clubs that built the USMNT’s Copa America roster

When the United States takes the field for the first time at this summer’s Copa America, the players won’t just be representing their nation.

Before Gregg Berhalter’s squad were international soccer players, they were youngsters with a dream of representing their school, their local club team or their state. Grassroots soccer is not just essential in building their skills on the field, but equipping players with the education and mental fortitude they need to thrive as young adults.

At The Athletic, we value recognizing the journey. Below, we have collected messages and videos of support from the schools and grassroots soccer clubs for several of the USMNT’s key players at Copa America.

Enjoy as the next generation of soccer stars — and a few teachers — take it away.

For Joe Scally, the journey to Copa America began at the Long Island Rough Riders youth soccer club.

Competing in the Super Y League, Scally was named to the 2011 Under-12 all-tournament team at the North American Finals and took home the Golden Boot. While it is difficult to judge if a player has the potential to be a professional, let alone a future international, at that stage, Scally made an impression on and off the field.

“The thing that always stood out, he just loved the game,” said Paul Cutter, his coach at the Rough Riders. “He lived the game. He was such a pleasure to coach; just always had a real passion and love for the game. High energy, hardworking, and you can see the talent. He was a great kid. Great family as well; really supportive family with him. He was always definitely one of the standout players back then. But the thing was whatever he was doing – it didn’t matter if it was a warm-up, a practice game – he just loved the game.”

Needless to say, he is fulfilling his potential — and then some. Scally is a regular at Borussia Monchengladbach and is expected to feature heavily under Berhalter this summer, particularly in the absence of Sergino Dest, building on his inclusion in his 2022 World Cup squad. There, he became the fourth former member of the Rough Riders organization to be named to a World Cup squad, after Tony Meola (USA), Edson Buddle (USA) and Wilmer Cabrera (Colombia).

At Copa America, like his USMNT teammates, he will be flying the flag for his hometown.

Tim Ream is a 58-cap veteran of the USMNT, but he got his first meaningful taste of soccer success at St. Dominic High School in St. Louis, Missouri.

Ream played varsity boys’ soccer in all four years of high school. His crowning achievement came as a sophomore when he helped lead St. Dominic to the 2004 Missouri Class 2 state title, beating Excelsior Springs 5-0 in the championship game. His name is alongside his teammates on the school’s championship banner.

Over his final two years, Ream set a school record with 39 assists and 15 goals from defense while being named All-State, All-Conference and Class 2 Defensive Player of the Year in 2004 and 2005.

“Tim came about as a freshman and we brought him up to varsity right away. I put him in the backfield and he was a starter for me from the get-go,” said Greg Koeller, head varsity soccer coach at St. Dominic. “By the time he was a junior, everybody knew he was top talent.”

More than a decade after Ream’s championship, St. Dominic welcomed Josh Sargent, who will also be joining up with the national team this summer after an excellent season in the English Championship with Norwich City.

While Ream was immediately introduced to the varsity soccer team, Sargent never got a taste of on-field action at St. Dominic’s. While playing club soccer outside of school, Sargent was actually picked to represent the school at the varsity level in basketball. The 24-year-old was a good enough basketball player that it made the choice difficult when he had to decide whether to pursue soccer full-time in his early teens.

But when he did, he thrived. In his sophomore year of high school, Sargent moved to the U.S. Residency Program in Bradenton, Florida, to train with the youth national team.

“It wasn’t until he left to play with the national team and I told him I was on the very first national team, youth team, that we made a really strong connection together,” Koeller said. “His talent level from the beginning has been incredible.

“We are so proud and it’s definitely unique. I think it speaks to the caliber of soccer we have here in St. Louis. The region has sent a lot of players to the national team and it’s quite the honor.”

Precisely two months before Copa America kicked off, Haji Wright came excruciatingly close to delivering one of the greatest moments in Coventry City’s history.

After English Championship side Coventry had miraculously recovered a three-goal deficit in the second half of their FA Cup semifinal against Manchester United, Wright looked to have assisted teammate Victor Torp with the final kick of extra time. But after an agonizing wait, the video assistant referee ruled Wright to have strayed slightly offside and the referee disallowed the goal. United went on to win on penalties and eventually beat Manchester City in the final.

While Wright’s memory of that Wembley afternoon will be painful, it’s the stuff of dreams for the kid who attended Linwood E. Howe Elementary School in Los Angeles.

As he was preparing to leave for middle school, Wright wrote, “When I am 25 years old, I hope to be the best professional soccer player in the world.”

As a regular in the USMNT and a star player for Coventry, Wright has come far closer to achieving his elementary school dreams than most.

Yunus Musah is among the four players in Berhalter’s squad who were raised in England but will represent the USMNT at Copa America.

Born in the United States to Ghanaian parents before spending his early childhood in Italy, Musah was eligible to represent four nations before he was a teenager. After representing the England youth sides as a teenager, where he shone alongside current stars Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer and Germany’s Jamal Musiala, who also switched eligibility to represent the country of his birth as a senior international, he declared for the USMNT as an 18-year-old in 2021.

While coming through the ranks at Arsenal’s academy, Musah attended Eastbury Community School in the London borough of Barking and Dagenham, close to where he grew up. He was a standout student and well-liked by his classmates and teachers — his infectious smile remains an abiding memory for his peers.

In the USMNT’s 1-1 draw against Wales in their opening game of the 2022 World Cup, he made school history when he lined up opposite Wales international Sorba Thomas, another Eastbury alumnus. Thomas was in year 11 (10th grade) when Musah joined Eastbury as an 11-year-old (sixth grade).

Cameron Carter-Vickers was born and raised in England but was eligible for the United States through his father.

Carter-Vickers’ father, Howard Carter, was a professional basketball player who spent two years in the NBA playing for the Denver Nuggets and the Dallas Mavericks in 1983 and 1984 before moving to Europe, where he enjoyed periods in France and Greece. His father met his English mother, Geraldine Vickers, while both working in Greece and Carter-Vickers would split time between Essex in the UK and Louisiana, spending school term time with his mother and summers with his father.

Carter-Vickers attended The Eastwood Academy in Leigh-on-Sea, a small town in the south-west of England with a population of around 22,000. At Eastwood, he excelled in sports, particularly football, and always represented his school despite playing in Tottenham Hotspur’s academy.

“We’re all so proud of Cameron and what he’s achieving, especially as he was such a great pupil here,” Scott Wheeler, head of physical education at Eastwood, said in 2017. “When I came in he was in Year 9 and all the teachers here can only say positive things about him.

“He was already with Tottenham Hotspur at the time, but he never missed a school game. He was very close and loyal to his mates and always played, but we did have to make sure our matches weren’t on a Tuesday or a Friday so he wouldn’t be with Spurs!”

Gio Reyna was born in Sunderland, a northern English city approximately 10 miles south of Newcastle, but he was always going to represent the United States.

His father, Claudio, was one of the most talented American players of his generation and represented the USMNT 112 times. His mother, Danielle, had a distinguished college career at North Carolina and pulled on the American jersey on six occasions. The Reynas were the first family to have a father, mother and child all appear on U.S. Soccer’s senior national teams in the program’s history. Gio is American soccer royalty.

Though his footballing education started in the backyard with his parents and brother Jack, who tragically passed away at 13 years old from brain cancer, Greenwich Country Day School played as important part as anywhere in preparing Gio for a career in the spotlight. And they’re very proud he’s flying the flag for the school on the international stage.

“Hey Gio, we’re so proud of you,” says Tim Helstein, Director of Athletics at GCDA. “All the Tiger athletes are cheering you on, in person and on TV. You’ve represented our school and what we believe at Tiger Pride. We can’t wait to see you on the world stage at Copa America.”

Growing up in the gridiron football state of Alabama as the son of a semi-professional basketball player who played in Iceland, Bolivia, and Australia, Chris Richards’ desire to play soccer was surprising, not least to his parents.

“He was maybe five or six when he said, ‘I want to do soccer’ — and my wife and I looked at each other, like ‘soccer?’,” said Ken, Chris’ father. “So we signed him up. He was good because he was really fast for his age. Skill-wise, he wasn’t very good, but he was good athletically. He could push the ball ahead, outrun people, and score goals.

“He continually grew and I never pushed basketball on him. At eight or nine, I introduced him to it, but I could always tell he had more of an affinity for soccer.”

Even attending Hoover High School, a high-school football powerhouse that has won 13 state titles, wasn’t enough to deviate Richards from his course. Richards rarely represented his high school in soccer, developing mostly at the nearby Hoover Soccer Club, where he played from four years old to 14, winning two Alabama state championships.

But that’s not to say he isn’t a proud Hoover High Buccaneer. In May, the Premier League posted a video on X asking him to identify the location of each club in England’s top division. He credited his impressive performance to his high school.

shoutout to my hoover high education 😂🤝

— chris richards (@eastmamba) May 8, 2024

For Christian Pulisic, the most recognizable player on Berhalter’s roster, the journey started in Hershey, a small town of fewer than 15,000 people in Pennsylvania.

Either side of 12 months spent in Tackley, a quaint village in the United Kingdom, Pulisic began his soccer education at PA Classics, where his father, Mark, a former indoor soccer professional, was a coach. It didn’t take long for his other coaches to realize he would be set for heights never reached by anyone to step onto their field.

Still, despite his apparent game-changing talent, his former coaches still remark on his smile and love for the game.

“He’s so grounded; he smiles wherever he goes,” said Doug Harris, the president of Pulisic’s underage club, PA Classics. “Children are copying him and parents like him because he is a good role model for their kids.”

In 2021, Pulisic returned to his grassroots soccer club to help lay the foundations for the next generation. The 25-year-old opened a soccer development training center in Manheim, Lancaster County, which has become the new home of PA Classics. The center is named “Pulisic Stomping Grounds”.

“Growing up, and I actually spent a year in England growing up,” said Pulisic. “There were fields very similar to this. Just like in my local park. It was something so special that people could come and play without coaches and have some fun; that’s where I feel I learned so much and my passion for the game grew so much. To give something like that was what I kind of imagined and it’s even better than I thought it would be.”

Hailing from Wappingers Falls, a small town in downstate New York, Tyler Adams attended Roy C. Ketcham High School, where he excelled on the field and in the classroom.

“Everyone knows Tyler as a standout athlete, but we remember him as an excellent student, a quiet leader with an infectious smile — who was also an unbelievable athlete,” said Principal David Seipp. “He doesn’t wanna be above everybody else, he just wants to be him. It’s incredible, it’s surreal… because he’s homegrown and he’s this worldwide famous person.”

Despite breaking into the New York Red Bulls’ senior side at 16, Adams would attend two or three classes in the morning to keep up with lessons before heading to training. After graduating, he asked his manager if he could leave training early so he could attend his prom.

Fortunately for Adams, Jesse Marsch, now the Canada head coach, obliged. Now, a game-worn Red Bulls jersey with Adams at the back is displayed in the school’s trophy case, inspiring the next generation of soccer stars.

Querido Johnny,

I remember your first day at Colegio Marista as if it were yesterday. Tiny little Joao, my own nephew, in my school and in my futsal squad — what a thrill!

You were such a smart, obedient kid. Maths was your best subject but you picked everything up so quickly. All the teachers thought you were an excellent student, at least until football training started to take over your life.

On the futsal court, you weren’t always the superstar of your year, but you were tactically astute and you just never stopped improving. You were constantly developing as a player, adding new layers to your game.

One episode has always stuck with me. We were preparing for an under-nines tournament; you were seven, playing above your age group. Before the first game, our captain was overcome with nerves and didn’t want to play. I didn’t expect you to volunteer to take the armband, but you didn’t hesitate. You were so courageous.

It has been a huge pleasure to see you thrive in Brazil’s top flight and now at Real Betis. Now you are playing in your first big tournament at international level. I hope that you exceed expectations, as you always have in your career.

We’ll be cheering you on in Criciuma, even if the U.S. end up facing Brazil. We’re all members of Johnny Football Club.

Abraco!

Rafael Puccini Fernandes
Colegio Marista, Criciuma

Joao Lucas de Souza Cardoso grew up playing football on the streets of Curitiba, Brazil’s eighth-largest city. He honed his skills playing futsal. He went to school there. He idolized Kaka and played for some of the nation’s most prominent clubs at the academy level. Cardoso, who now dictates the midfield play for Real Betis in La Liga, is Brazilian.

But Cardoso, like the English-raised Musah and Carter-Vickers, is also American. You’ll know him better as “Johnny”, who was born in Denville Township, New Jersey after his parents moved to the United States searching for a new and better life. While Cardoso and his family moved back to Brazil when he was three months old, the American sensibility remained, evidenced by the nickname he uses on the back of his shirt today.

When Cardoso was 11, he returned to New Jersey on vacation with his parents. They visited the hospital where Johnny had been born and their old house in Denville. Though he lacked a grasp of the language, that trip further reinforced his connection with the country of his birth.

“It was really special,” Cardoso told The Athletic. “My parents always felt a connection with the U.S. and me playing for the national team has only strengthened that. We feel more and more connected to the U.S. It’s really cool.”

That connection now extends to Colegio Marista, the school he attended in Brazil. As his teacher, Rafael Puccini Fernandes, says, “We’re all members of Johnny Football Club.”

(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)