Frisco, Texas (March 11, 2021) – FC Dallas Homegrown Jesús Ferreira was selected by U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team head coach and former Dallas Burn player Jason Kreis to represent the United States at the Concacaf Olympic Qualifying Championship in Guadalajara, Mexico from March 18-30.
The USA kicks off Olympic qualifying on Thursday, March 18 vs. Costa Rica at 3:30 p.m. CT, faces Dominican Republic on Sunday, March 21 at 6 p.m. CT and wraps up the group stage vs. Mexico on Thursday, March 26 at 8:30 p.m. CT. All three U.S. group stage games will be broadcast on FS1 and TUDN. The U-23 USMNT is aiming to qualify for its first Olympic Games since 2008.
“We know that qualifying will be a challenge, but it’s a challenge that we’re ready for. We’ll need all 20 players on this roster to contribute for us to achieve our ultimate goal of qualifying for the Olympics,” Kreis said. “We’ve had a productive training camp in Guadalajara and our players are hungry for the opportunity to compete. After starting this journey nearly two years ago, we’re excited to get started with the tournament.”
Ferreira, 20, joins the U-23s after a successful U-23/USMNT camp in January. Ferreira scored his first international brace and added three assists in the 7-0 shutout win against Trinidad and Tobago on January 31. Ferreira became a U.S. citizen on Dec. 16, 2019 and was granted a one-time change of association by FIFA to represent the U.S. National Team at the international level. He made his senior team debut against Costa Rica on Feb. 1, 2020 where he played 62 minutes. The Olympic qualifying tournament will be Ferreira’s first official competition with the USA after the dual-national player selected to represent the U.S. in January 2019.
The tournament features eight nations divided into two groups of four teams. The top two finishers in each group will advance to the pivotal semifinals that will send two winners to the Olympics in Tokyo as representatives of Concacaf. The two winners will also meet in the final on March 30.
CONCACAF MEN’S OLYMPIC QUALIFYING CHAMPION SHIP ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB; HOMETOWN):
GOALKEEPERS (3): Matt Freese (Philadelphia Union; Wayne, Pa.), JT Marcinkowski (San Jose Earthquakes, Alamo, Calif.), David Ochoa (Real Salt Lake; Oxnard, Calif.)
DEFENDERS (6): Julian Araujo (LA Galaxy; Lompoc, Ca lif.), Justen Glad (Real Salt Lake; Tucson, Ariz.), Aaron Herrera (Real Salt Lake; Las Cruces, N.M.), Henry Kessler (New England Revolution; New York, N.Y.), Mauricio Pineda (Chicago Fire FC; Bolingbrook, Ill.), Sam Vines (Colorado Rapids; Colorado Springs, Colo.)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Johnny Cardoso (Internacional/BRA; Denville, N.J.), Hassani Dotson (Minnesota United FC; Federal Way, Wash.), Ulysses Llanez (Heerenveen/NED; Lynwood, Calif.), Djordje Mihailovic (CF Montreal/CAN; Jacksonville, Fla.), Andrés Perea (Orlando City SC; Medellin, Colombia), Sebastian Saucedo (UNAM Pumas/MEX; Park City, Utah), Jackson Yueill (San Jose Earthquakes; Bloomington, Minn.)
FORWARDS (4): Jesús Ferreira (FC Dallas; McKinney, Texas), Jonathan Lewis (Colorado Rapids; Plantation, Fla.), Benji Michel (Orlando City SC; Orlando, Fla.), Sebastian Soto (Norwich City/ENG; San Diego, Calif.)
The final roster features 11 players who have been capped at the senior USMNT level and 10 who have been part of a final roster at a FIFA Youth World Cup. Ten players have previously won Concacaf championships at the U-20 level in 2017 and 2018.
The Olympic qualifying tournament was originally scheduled for March 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Players born on or after Jan. 1, 1997 are age-eligible for the competition and Kreis selected players from five different birth years: nine born in 1997, three born in 1998, one born in 1999, three born in 2000 and four born in 2001.
