Ellis Makes History

 Teenager Became The Quickest USMNT Debutant to Score in the Modern Era

Justin Ellis did not have to wait long to make his mark on the U.S. men’s national team. Four minutes into his debut against Peru on Saturday, the 19-year-old Orlando City homegrown had already scored, and he did it in the stadium he calls home.

The goal was a family affair. Ellis started the move himself, drawing a foul on the left side about 25 yards out. Gio Reyna stepped up to deliver the free kick, and Ellis got ahead of his marker to flick a header that curled toward the far post and settled in off the woodwork. It was the fastest goal by a debutant in the program's modern era, and it made Ellis the first player to score on his U.S. debut on home soil in Florida since Brandon Vazquez in January 2023.

Even the script seemed pre-written. Head coach Mauricio Pochettino told Ellis another goal was coming, and Reyna said the day before that he planned to set him up. “I don’t know how he called it,” Ellis said. “It’s just an unbelievable moment.”

The finish capped a steep rise. Ellis won MLS NEXT’s U19 MVP award in 2025, helped Orlando’s academy lift the Generation adidas Cup, and signed his first-team deal in February. Only months later, he was in a senior national team camp. He also became eligible to represent Uruguay through his mother, and Uruguay coach Diego Forlán reportedly met with him the week before his U.S. call-up, which makes this debut look like a statement of intent.

As the team opened a new cycle after a round-of-16 World Cup exit, Ellis embodied the experiment: young, fearless and ready. Pochettino cautioned that these players still need patience, but Ellis gave the staff plenty to think about.

Dominant Win Over Peru

Behind Goals From a Couple of Debutants, the USA Roll Past Peru

A new era for the U.S. men’s national team began in Orlando on Saturday with a flurry of fresh faces. In its first match since a round-of-16 World Cup exit against Belgium, Mauricio Pochettino’s side beat Peru 4-1 at Inter&Co Stadium in a friendly dominated by debutants.

Justin Ellis, the 19-year-old who plays for Orlando City in that stadium, needed just four minutes to make his mark. After helping win a free kick, he met Gio Reyna’s delivery with a looping header past goalkeeper Pedro Gallese. “I play in the stadium often, but to play in the stadium for my national team is unbelievable,” Ellis said afterward.

Peru leveled in the 15th minute when Gianluca Lapadula slipped between defenders and headed home from close range. The visitors, who struggled to hold the ball for long stretches, went into halftime at 1-1.

The Americans dominated the second half. Malik Tillman buried a penalty into the bottom-left corner in the 66th minute after substitute Mathis Albert was fouled as he ran into the box. Six minutes later, 18-year-old Julian Hall poked in a Sebastian Berhalter cross for his first senior goal. Berhalter capped the evening in the 90th minute with a rocket from outside the area.

The debut numbers were striking. Eleven players earned first caps, eight of them teenagers, including 16-year-old Philadelphia Union midfielder Cavan Sullivan, who started and picked up a yellow card after colliding with Gallese midway through the first half. Eleven debuts fall one short of the U.S. record of 12, set against Poland in 1973 and matched against Guatemala in 1988. Numerous debutants in that 1988 match helped the USA qualify for the World Cup in late 1989, the first time in 40 years.

Ellis and Hall also became the first American teenagers to score in the same match since Josh Sargent and Timothy Weah did so against Bolivia in 2018. Next up is Chile in St. Louis on Tuesday, followed by Mexico and Canada.

New USMNT Faces

Multiple New Players, Mostly from the Youth Ranks, Could Make Their Senior Debut

Thirteen uncapped players are on Mauricio Pochettino’s roster, and the group averages just 19 years and six months. Most could see the field in the four-match window.

Cavan Sullivan is the headliner. The 16-year-old Philadelphia Union attacker has been among MLS’s standout performers this season, with six goals and five assists in roughly 1,370 league minutes. If he plays, he would rank as the fourth-youngest player to wear the U.S. shirt. Pochettino praised him but stressed he is still a kid who needs to mature. Sullivan’s Union teammates Neil Pierre and Frankie Westfield join him at camp for the first time.

Red Bull New York contributes two homegrown players. Julian Hall, the league’s top-scoring teenager with nine goals, could contribute quickly with his movement off the ball. Midfielder Adri Mehmeti, 17, has become a regular starter and is known for his composure in possession. Orlando City’s Justin Ellis, 19, has flourished alongside new teammate Antoine Griezmann. In New England, Peyton Miller, 18, is a possible future left-back currently used on the right wing, and 21-year-old midfielder Brooklyn Raines could become the third U.S. international born in Liberia.

Abroad, Zavier Gozo joined Crystal Palace from Real Salt Lake this summer, and Cole Campbell, 20, impressed early in the Bundesliga with Elversberg. Mathis Albert, 17, is a top Dortmund prospect still waiting for regular minutes with the club’s reserves.

The goalkeeper group adds two new names. Diego Kochen, 20, is a Barcelona product starting on loan at Denmark’s Lyngby, and 25-year-old Brian Schwake has been one of MLS’s best keepers for league-leading Nashville SC. 

Five of the uncapped players, including Gozo, Miller and Raines, appeared at the 2025 U-20 World Cup, and three, Albert, Hall and Sullivan, played at the U-17 World Cup.

Pochettino's First Roster of the New Cycle

First Roster After the World Cup Features 13 Uncapped Players

The U.S. men’s national team begins its post-World Cup chapter with a roster that looks more like a youth movement than a continuation. Head coach Mauricio Pochettino named 28 players for the September-October window, which features matches against Peru, Chile, Mexico and Canada, and the group averages 22 years and nine months, more than four years younger than the World Cup squad.

Thirteen players are uncapped, led by 16-year-old Philadelphia Union attacker Cavan Sullivan, who could become one of the youngest players ever to represent the U.S. Borussia Dortmund’s Mathis Albert, Red Bull New York’s Julian Hall and Adri Mehmeti, as well as Orlando City’s Justin Ellis, also earned first caps. Notable omissions include Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Folarin Balogun and World Cup captain Tim Ream, who will be honored in St. Louis against Chile.

Pochettino framed the changes as a reset. “It’s a fresh start. It’s a new cycle,” he said, adding that past performance alone no longer guarantees a place. The federation also wants more young players in the mix with an eye toward the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Experience remains in the spine, with Tyler Adams and Antonee Robinson leading the group at 58 caps apiece, followed by Yunus Musah, Sergiño Dest and Gio Reyna. The goalkeeper job looks wide open, with Matt Freese challenged by Brian Schwake, Diego Kochen and Chris Brady.

The forward line took a hit when Ricardo Pepi withdrew after just nine minutes with a muscle injury in PSV’s loss to Twente. St. Louis City’s Damion Downs, on loan from Southampton, replaces him. Pepi’s absence leaves Downs and Hall as the only true strikers, while Ellis, Sullivan and Cole Campbell offer different attacking profiles.

The U.S. opens against Peru on September 26.