Atlanta United FC — In January, five Atlanta United players were selected for their respective youth national teams. In addition to Malachi Grant and Ashton Gordon representing Jamaica’s U-17 team and Efrain Morales representing Bolivia’s U-20 team, Noah Cobb and Adyn Torres have joined the U.S. Youth National Team training camps.
Cobb, 17, has been selected for the U.S. Under-19 Men’s Youth National Team’s training camp, which will take place from January 5 to January 13 at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Homegrown defender, who started with the U-12s in the Academy, will make his debut for Atlanta’s First Team in 2023. On July 18, 2021, Cobb made his professional debut with Atlanta United 2, and over the next two seasons, he appeared in 37 USL games. In 2022, he received the MLS NEXT All-Star honour.
In order to be ready for the 2023 Concacaf U-17 Championship, which will take place in Guatemala from February 11–22, Grant and Gordon have both joined Jamaica’s U-17 team for a training camp. Atlanta United’s U-17 team is represented by Grant, a 16-year-old defender and 2022 MLS NEXT All-Star, and Gordon, a 15-year-old attacker.
The Bolivian team, which will compete in the 2023 South American U-20 Championship in Colombia from January 19 to February 12, has added 18-year-old Morales to its ranks. He only played once for Bolivia’s U-20 team, making his debut on December 13, 2022, in a friendly matchup against Venezuela’s U-20 team. With Atlanta United 2 in 2022, the homegrown centre defender started 17 of his 24 career USL Championship outings. He has 34 USL Championship appearances overall.
For his first call-up to the American team, 15-year-old Torres has joined the U.S. Under-16 Men’s Youth National Team for a training camp in Tampa, Florida, from January 4 to January 13. At the 2022 Generation adidas Cup in June, the midfielder was selected for the U-15 Best XI Team after helping Atlanta’s U-15s reach the quarterfinals. The native of Atlanta transferred from Gwinnett Soccer Academy to the Academy in 2020.
