Three players from Philadelphia Union called into U.S. team for Olympic qualifying

Three Philadelphia Union players will be part of the United States U23 team’s Olympic qualifying roster.

Brenden Aaronson, Mark McKenzie and Matt Freese are on the roster revealed at halftime of the FS1 broadcast for the Union’s game Sunday night for the qualifying tournament kicking off in Mexico on March 20. They were expected to leave from Los Angeles to report to camp.

Aaronson and McKenzie both started in Sunday night’s game. Freese started and recorded a clean sheet for Philadelphia Union II in their season debut at Subaru Park in Chester on Saturday.

The U.S. begins qualifying on March 20 against Costa Rica and also play Mexico and Dominican Republic in Group A. The top two finishers in each of the two groups qualify for the semifinals. The two finalists will book a spot in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

The Union trio will miss at least three games — the home opener on March 14, DC United at home on March 22 and Portland Timbers away on March 28. The group stage ends March 27, the semifinals are on March 30 and the final is April 1.

Roster

GOALKEEPERS (3): Matt Freese (Philadelphia Union; Wayne, Pa.), JT Marcinkowski (San Jose Earthquakes; Alamo, Calif.), David Ochoa (Real Salt Lake; Oxnard, Calif.)

DEFENDERS (6): Reggie Cannon (FC Dallas; Grapevine, Texas), Justen Glad (Real Salt Lake; Tucson, Ariz.), Chris Gloster (PSV Eindhoven/NED; Montclair, N.J.), Aaron Herrera (Real Salt Lake; Las Cruces, N.M.), Mark McKenzie (Philadelphia Union; Bear, Del.), Erik Palmer-Brown (Austria Wien/AUT; Lee’s Summit, Mo.)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Brenden Aaronson (Philadelphia Union; Medford, N.J.), Hassani Dotson (Minnesota United; Federal Way, Wash.), Richard Ledezma (PSV Eindhoven/NED; Phoenix, Ariz.), Djordje Mihailovic (Chicago Fire; Lemont, Ill.), Paxton Pomykal (FC Dallas; Highland Village, Texas), Jackson Yueill (San Jose Earthquakes; Bloomington, Minn.)

FORWARDS (5): Jeremy Ebobisse (Portland Timbers; Bethesda, Md.), Jesús Ferreira (FC Dallas; McKinney, Texas), Jonathan Lewis (Colorado Rapids; Plantation, Fla.), Ulysses Llanez (Wolfsburg/GER; Lynwood, Calif.), Sebastian Saucedo (UNAM Pumas/MEX; Park City, Utah)