Skip to content
Soccer

Cavan Sullivan starts in his USMNT debut against Peru

The 16-year-old Union phenom makes his senior national team debut at the first opportunity. Neil Pierre and Frankie Westfield are on the bench, while three other Philly-area natives are also starting.

Cavan Sullivan (center) is starting for the U.S. men's soccer team in his first game with the senior squad.
Cavan Sullivan (center) is starting for the U.S. men's soccer team in his first game with the senior squad.Read moreJonathan Tannenwald / Staff

ORLANDO — Cavan Sullivan was thrown right into things with the U.S. men’s soccer team, as he was picked for the starting lineup in Saturday’s friendly against Peru.

The 16-year-old Union phenom made his senior national team debut at the first available opportunity.

Sullivan, who’s taking the field two days before his 17th birthday, is the fourth-youngest player in senior men’s national team history and second-youngest starter.

Freddy Adu holds the first record, having debuted at 16 years and 234 days in January 2006 — five years before he made the Union one of many stops in his career. Mike Slivinski holds the second record, at 16 years and 318 days in September 1991.

Sullivan was one of four players with Union or Philadelphia ties in Saturday’s starting lineup. The other three are in the defense: Media’s Auston Trusty and Chester’s George Campbell at centerback, and Wayne’s Matt Freese at goalkeeper.

Trusty and Freese are former Union players, and Trusty and Campbell were youth soccer teammates at the former Nether United club in Delaware County.

Campbell tried out for the Union academy at one point and didn’t get in, though his brothers Will and Rob did. The family moved to Atlanta in 2013, so George grew up with Atlanta United. He played professionally there from 2020 to 2022, then moved to CF Montréal before the 2023 season.

Last year, English club West Bromwich Albion bought him, and he has been there ever since.

» READ MORE: Mauricio Pochettino says Cavan Sullivan is ‘ready’ for his USMNT run alongside the team’s new generation

The U.S. roster for this FIFA window is 28 players, larger than the usual 23. Each team is allowed 11 substitutions, far beyond soccer’s usual five, so expect to see a lot of changes.

As players got off the bus at the stadium, they walked past a crowd of fans that gathered to cheer them on. Nearby TV cameras stayed on Sullivan when he came down, holding up his phone to save the memory.

The camera lingers on Cavan Sullivan as he gets off the #USMNT bus at the stadium. Neil Pierre and Frankie Westfield were right ahead of him:

[image or embed]

— Jonathan Tannenwald (@jtannenwald.bsky.social) September 26, 2026 at 3:12 PM

Notably, the two players walking in front of him were Union teammates Neil Pierre and Frankie Westfield.

They are on the bench, along with everyone else on the roster except winger Cole Campbell and centerback Chris Richards. Those two get the day off.

Kickoff is at 4:30 p.m. The game is televised on TNT, truTV, Telemundo 62, and Universo and streamed on HBO Max and Peacock.

» READ MORE: A Bridesburg basement and three older brothers helped Cavan Sullivan become the future of U.S. Soccer

USMNT lineup vs. Peru

Forward: Justin Ellis

Midfielders: Cavan Sullivan, Malik Tillman, Gio Reyna, Tyler Adams, Yunus Musah

Defenders: Peyton Miller, Auston Trusty, George Campbell, Alex Freeman (from left to right)

Goalkeeper: Matt Freese

This is a breaking news story. It will be updated.

» READ MORE: Union alumnus Auston Trusty embraces being a USMNT role model for Cavan Sullivan and Neil Pierre

    Jonathan Tannenwald
    I'm The Inquirer's soccer reporter, covering the Union, the U.S. men's and women's national teams, MLS, the NWSL, and Philadelphia's place in the world's game. I also cover college basketball, the WNBA, and occasionally other things.
Join The Conversation
Community Guidelines