The Guardian · US news · Original story
‘I’m pretty sure I didn’t imagine it’: the little-known trio of high schoolers who made USMNT history
The idea of 16-year-olds like Cavan Sullivan playing for the USMNT was once unfathomable – until Mike Slivinski, Mark Jonas and Nelson Vargas appeared in a 1991 friendly
If 16-year-old Cavan Sullivan takes the field for the US men’s national team in the coming days, he will join a list of youngest-ever US players that has no shortage of recognizable names.
At the top is onetime phenom (turned cautionary tale) Freddy Adu, still the youngest player to ever appear for the US men. Names in the top 20 like Eddie Gaven and Bobby Convey will feel familiar to longtime US fans; Christian Pulisic, Yunus Musah and Gio Reyna are all still very much in the picture and may well prove to be Sullivan’s future partners in attack.
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Pablo Iglesias Maurer · Sat, Sep 26, 2026, 4:00 AM
US news | The Guardian
The idea of 16-year-olds like Cavan Sullivan playing for the USMNT was once unfathomable – until Mike Slivinski, Mark Jonas and Nelson Vargas appeared in a 1991 friendly
If 16-year-old Cavan Sullivan takes the field for the US men’s national team in the coming days, he will join a list of youngest-ever US players that has no shortage of recognizable names.
At the top is onetime phenom (turned cautionary tale) Freddy Adu, still the youngest player to ever appear for the US men. Names in the top 20 like Eddie Gaven and Bobby Convey will feel familiar to longtime US fans; Christian Pulisic, Yunus Musah and Gio Reyna are all still very much in the picture and may well prove to be Sullivan’s future partners in attack.
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