Union

Cavan Sullivan Gets USMNT Call-Up

By Matt Schultz

Published: Sep 16th, 2026 · 5:47 PM EDT

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Per Jeff Carlisle at ESPN, the Union’s Cavan Sullivan has earned a call-up to the United States Men’s National Team for the FIFA International window this September and October. The 16-year-old will have the chance to lace them up against Peru, Chile, Mexico, and Canada, with games set to begin on September 26th in Orlando.

This has been a nice little stretch for the Philadelphia native who’s been playing for the Union since he was 14. As Kinker wrote about the other day, the kid’s been racking up the goals for his MLS squad of late — he scored twice in a 5-0 win over San Diego on Sunday night by doing cool stuff like this:

CAVAN SULLIVAN BACKHEEL?! 😲

The 16-year-old gives @PhilaUnion the lead in San Diego just before halftime! pic.twitter.com/oSvyKnvfRp

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) September 14, 2026

And this:

Now he's nutmegged the keeper 😳

Cavan Sullivan gets his brace in style for @PhilaUnion! pic.twitter.com/IjinRebcch

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) September 14, 2026

His play has really been excellent since MLS returned from the World Cup break. In that time, Sullivan has notched six goals (with five coming in his last seven games) and eight assists, helping the Union remain unbeaten in their last ten (8 wins, two draws). And if he does indeed take the field for USMNT during the fall International window, he’ll be the second youngest-ever player to play for the U.S. team, behind only Freddy Adu.

He also turns 17 on September 28th. Big month for Cavan. Good stuff here. This is all very good…

I gotta say, though, I do have one small cause for concern that I feel I should mention. It’s not a huge deal, but I think it’s worth keeping an eye on —

Cavan’s playlist situation:

it's come to my attention that the MLS community is not familiar with Cavan Sullivan's gameday prep playlist he made for apple music. someone needs to check on this kid because why is he listening to the smiths and the lumineers to get hype pic.twitter.com/A6bNGD48uJ

— em 🖤🩵 (@dayglowraven) September 16, 2026

Creep by Radiohead. Multiple songs from The Smiths. A song titled “Cry.” Seems like Cavan may be slightly sad here, which I personally don’t love to see. I prefer my hometown hero phenoms feeling upbeat. Optimistic. Listening to conquering-the-world type music. Big fun beats. Synths. Lyrics about champagne. I’m picturing Right Above It by Lil Wayne. Or music from the Entourage movie. That sorta thing. The kind of music Turtle would like.

But maybe this is just normal moody teen stuff. That’s possible. I dabbled in quite a bit of Creep myself at 16. Just thought I’d flag it.