Josh Atencio named to pre-Olympics training camp

Jeremiah Oshan -

Josh Atencio is one of 20 players named to a United States U23 training camp ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, marking the first time the Seattle Sounders midfielder has been called into a youth national team camp since he was one of the final cuts prior to the 2019 U17 World Cup.

Atencio effectively replaces teammate Obed Vargas on the training camp roster, as four of the other five midfielders – and 15 of 20 players overall – had been involved in the previous camp. Vargas, who had been the youngest player called in, performed well in that camp. But Atencio has seemingly overtaken Vargas on the Sounders' internal depth chart, having started the last five games and 7 of 8 overall. The Sounders have never sent a player to the Olympics.

During the camp – which is being held in Spain – the USA will play Iraq on Nov. 18 and then play Morocco on Nov. 21. The Sounders next play on Nov. 26, when they face LAFC in the Western Conference semifinals.

U.S. MEN’S OLYMPIC SOCCER TEAM – NOVEMBER TRAINING CAMP

GOALKEEPERS (2): Christopher Brady (Chicago Fire FC; Naperville, Ill.), John Pulskamp (Sporting Kansas City; Bakersfield, Calif.)
DEFENDERS (6): George Campbell (CF Montreal/CAN; Atlanta, Ga.), Maximilian Dietz (Greuther Fürth/GER; Frankfurt, Germany), Nathan Harriel (Philadelphia Union; Oldsmar, Fla.), Bryan Reynolds (Westerlo/BEL; Fort Worth, Texas), John Tolkin (New York Red Bulls; Chatham, N.J.), Jonathan Tomkinson (Bradford City/ENG; Plano, Texas)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Joshua Atencio (Seattle Sounders FC; Bellevue, Wash.) Cole Bassett (Colorado Rapids; Littleton, Colo.), Gianluca Busio (Venezia/ITA; Greensboro, N.C.), Benja Cremaschi (Inter Miami CF; Key Biscayne, Fla.), Jack McGlynn (Philadelphia Union; Queens, N.Y.), Tanner Tessmann (Venezia/ITA; Birmingham, Ala.)
FORWARDS (6): Agustin Anello (Sparta Rotterdam/NED; Miami, Fla.), Esmir Bajraktarevic (New England Revolution; Appleton, Wisc.), Taylor Booth (Utrecht/NED; Eden, Utah), Cade Cowell (San Jose Earthquakes; Ceres, Calif.), Johan Gomez (Eintracht Braunschweig/GER; Keller, Texas), Bernard Kamungo (FC Dallas; Abilene, Texas)