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Real Salt Lake Quartet Named to Olympic Qualifying Rosters

March 8, 2020 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release


HERRIMAN, Utah - - The Real Salt Lake trio of RSL Academy products David Ochoa, Aaron Herrera and Justen Glad have been named to the U.S. Men's National Team roster for the CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship, while Douglas Martinez has been named to Honduras' roster for the tournament. The qualifying championships will be held from March 20 to April 1 in Guadalajara, Mexico.

All four players will be unavailable for Real Salt Lake for next week's match against Columbus Crew SC as their countries begin preparations for the tournament and are not slated to return until after the completion of the tournament.

U.S. Under-23 Men's National Team Head Coach Jason Kreis aims to qualify for its first Olympic Games since 2008 with a 20-man roster that includes five players from the RSL Academy. The USA's journey begins when Group A play opens on Friday, March 20 vs. Costa Rica (5 p.m. MT; FS2, TUDN). The U.S. will then face Dominican Republic on Monday, March 23 (5 p.m. MT; FS1, TUDN) and wrap up the group stage vs. Mexico on Thursday, March 26 (9 p.m. MT; FS1, TUDN).

"With a lot of games in a short amount of time, we will need the contributions of all 20 players on this roster to achieve our ultimate goal of qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo," Kreis said. "This is our sixth time together with this U-23 group, so I think we have a real firm understanding of how we want to play and who we want to be."

Glad, 23, is in his seventh season with Real Salt Lake and started in the season-opening draw against Orlando City SC. He now has 108 starts in 110 appearances in his MLS career, including a stretch of 50 consecutive starts from 2017-2018. A regular for the U.S. during the current Olympic cycle, he also played in the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup and previously appeared for the U.S. Youth National Teams at the U-18 and U-17 levels.

Herrera, 22, is in his third season with RSL and started both matches thus far this season. In 2019, he led RSL in minutes played with 2,768, starting in 31 of his 32 appearances on the season, logging four assists. He has 50 appearances and 47 starts after a standout college career at the University of New Mexico. He made three appearances for the U.S. U-20 National Team in 2017 on its run through the CONCACAF U-20 Championships and the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Ochoa, 19, signed with RSL prior to the 2019 season. He made his professional debut in 2018 with the Real Monarchs as an Academy call-up on April 22, 2018 and has since helped the Monarchs claim the 2019 USL Championship title last season. He helped the U.S. contingent qualify for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup, earning shutouts in both matches he appeared in, including a 1-0 shutout of Honduras in the CONCACAF Championship semifinal round and played in two matches at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

In addition to Glad, Herrera and Ochoa, RSL Academy products Sebastian Saucedo and Richard Ledezma have also been named to the roster for the U.S.

Martinez, 22, signed with the Monarchs prior to the 2019 season and went on to lead the team in scoring with 16 goals while adding seven assists on the year. After signing with RSL on August 31, he continued with the Monarchs, scoring one playoff goal to help lift the USL Championship title. He made his second career MLS appearance on Saturday in a 1-1 draw with the New York Red Bulls. Internationally, Martinez scored for Honduras in his debut last year, earning three caps for his country. He has also appeared at the U-20 and U-23 levels.

Honduras opens the tournament against Haiti on March 21 at 4 p.m. MT. Then on March 24, Honduras faces El Salvador at 7:30 p.m. MT before closing out the Group Stage against Canada at 7:30 p.m. MT.

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