Busio, Leyva highlight US U-17 Concacaf Championship roster

The US Under-17 men's national team will aim to qualify for a record 17th FIFA U-17 World Cup appearance next month and head coach Ralph Wicky named his 20-player roster on Monday.

The squad is filled with top prospects across the league, including Sporting Kansas City's Gianluca Busio, Seattle Sounders' Danny Leyva and San Jose Earthquakes' Gilbert Fuentes.

The tournament kicks off on May 1, while the US have their first game at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida on May 2 against Canada. Barbados and Guatemala are the other two members of Group F. The four teams to advance to the semifinals will earn berths in the U-17 World Cup later this year.

“I’m very excited about the team we’ve put together for this World Cup qualifying tournament,” Wicky said in a statement. “There’s a lot of very good quality in this group. We brought together a strong roster for the mini-camp earlier this month, and now we’ve added a few more pieces with a lot of good characteristics. The players have brought a great mentality and we’re excited and ready for a number of interesting games ahead.”

Leyva just wrapped up an historic week at the GA Cup, leading the Sounders to a Champions Division title, the first time an MLS academy has won the title. Leyva won the Champions Division Golden Ball while teammate Alfonso Ocampo-Chavez earned the Golden Boot. 13 of the 20 players on the roster featured in the tournament last week in Texas.

The LA Galaxy have the most representative on the roster, with three, while two each come from NYCFC, Sporting Kansas City and D.C. United. 

All three of the USA’s group stage games will be broadcast on Univision Deportes Network and the Concacaf GO app, available on iTunes, Google Play and online.