Sporting KC’s Busio and Pulskamp Called Up by U-20 USMNT

On Wednesday, new United States U-20 National Team coach and former Colorado Rapids coach Anthony Hudson called up two players from the Sporting Kansas City system. 17-year-old midfielder Gianluca Busio was called from Sporting KC and 18-year-old goalkeeper John Pulskamp was called from SKC II (formerly the Swope Park Rangers).

Camp started yesterday and will run through January 19, 2020 in Bradenton, Florida at the IMG Academy. January 19th is also the day that Sporting KC players will report to Scottsdale, Arizona for the first phase of preseason. Likely Busio will arrive late along with Pulskamp (if he’s invited).

This camp will be in preparation for this summer’s CONCACAF U-20 Championship. There are no announced games for this camp. The Untied States won the CONCACAF U-20 Championship in both 2017 and 2019. For the group stage of the tournament the US will meet Jamaica, Costa Rica and St. Kitts and Nevis.

Busio has a long history of international call-ups. Most recently he was with the U-17s for the U-17 World Cup in Brazil where he score the United States’ only goal. He helped them qualify for that tournament by scoring five goals during the 2019 CONCACAF U-17 Championship.

Pulskamp has prior history with the youth national team setup as well. He was with the US U-18’s during training camp in June 2018 right here in Kansas City, MO at Pinnacle. That was before he joined Sporting KC II and was still a member of the LA Galaxy Academy. Likely this is where Sporting discovered him.

A fun tidbit in the announcement was that Pulskamp also went on trial with AFC Bournemouth of the English Premier League before ultimately coming to KC.

Below is the full roster via SportingKC.com:

U-20 U.S. MNT Roster by Position:

GOALKEEPERS (4): David Ochoa (Real Salt Lake; Oxnard, Calif.), Chituru Odunze (Leicester City/ENG; London, England), John Pulskamp (Sporting Kansas City; Bakersfield, Calif.), Patrick Schulte (St. Louis University; Saint Charles, Mo.)

DEFENDERS (10): Jacob Akanyirige (San Jose Earthquakes; Pleasanton, Calif.), Nico Benalcazar (Wake Forest; Wilton, Conn.), Kevin Bonilla (FC Dallas; Dallas, Texas), Nathan Harriel (Philadelphia Union; Oldsmar, Fla.), Ian Hoffmann (Karlsruher/GER; Bethany Beach, Del.), Blake Malone (North Carolina; Las Vegas, Nev.), Kurowskybob Pierre (Real Salt Lake; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), Andre Reynolds II (Chicago Fire FC; Chicago, Ill.), Stuart Ritchie (Hannover 96/GER; Pleasanton, Calif.), Leonardo Sepulveda (Salamanca/ESP.; Corona, Calif.)

MIDFIELDERS (5): Cole Bassett (Colorado Rapids; Littleton, Colo.), Leon Flach (St. Pauli/GER; Bad Schwartau, Germany), Aidan Morris (Columbus Crew S.C.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), Marcelo Palomino (Houston Dynamo; Houston, Texas), Thomas Roberts (FC Dallas; Little Rock, Ark.)

FORWARDS (5): Gianluca Busio (Sporting Kansas City; Greensboro, N.C.), Cameron Harper (Celtic/SCO; Roseville, Calif.), Matko Miljevic (Argentinos Juniors/ARG; Miami, Fla.), Dante Sealy (FC Dallas; Frisco, Texas), Marlon Vargas (Seattle Sounders FC.; Bakersfield, Calif.)