LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville City FC star defender and Louisville native Josh Wynder has achieved the biggest milestone of his young career. The United States Men's National Team called up Wynder for its April camp roster.
This team will train for the Allstate Continental Clásico, a new international competition where the USMNT hosts a top-tier opponent from North, Central or South America.
This year's match is on April 19 against Mexico at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. at 10:22 p.m.
"It was my goal for this to happen," Wynder said. "And it's an honor for this to happen."
"When you look at the work that he puts in every single day, the work that this club put into his development, his understanding of our process and how he's grown both on and off the field, it's been incredible to watch," LouCity head coach Danny Cruz said. "To see one of our own get called up to the full men's national team is something everybody at this club should be proud of and the community should be proud of. He's a local boy."
The 17-year-old is the youngest player on the 23-player USMT roster as it prepares for rival Mexico.
If he plays in the match, he would join former LouCity star Jonathan Gomez as the only U.S.-based non-Major League Soccer player capped by the national team since Miguel Ibarra in in 2015.
Wynder said him and his parents "freaked out" when he got the call. He is familiar with U.S. Soccer, receiving his first national team call-ups within the last year, playing for under-19 and under-20 groups.
"Starting out here at Louisville City, playing in my hometown, now starting with the national team and moving this fast, it's been crazy," Wynder said. "But it's been amazing."
It also hasn't been surprising. The 2022 USL Championship's Young Player of the Year is just the third-ever active league player to be invited to a U.S. senior team.
Gomez, who now plays for Real Sociedad in Spain's La Liga, also achieved it.
"I see how he comes to work every day," Cruz said. "I think one of the biggest things is his passion for the game. He truly loves it. He loves coming to work every day, he wants to get better. He's a humble human being with great character."
"We knew Josh was going to be good," LouCity academy director Mario Sanchez, who has known Wynder since he was about six years old, said. "He has the ability to to stay very calm, but super intense. If you look at any world-class athlete, they have that fine line where under immense pressure, they're able to stay calm, but their intensity doesn't drop. And that's one thing I've seen in Josh from day one."
That poise has made the center-back a rising international prospect not just for the national team, but for other clubs around the world.
He turns 18 on May 2, which means he will be eligible for the European transfer window this summer, hoping to follow in Gomez's footsteps in earning an opportunity with a European club.
"It shows you that obviously, Louisville City is doing something well," Wynder said of his and Gomez's development. "And it's been good for me to do after him (Gomez). So I can use him as a book. He can tell me what I need to do when I go into camp."
"This is something that is really important to us as a club," Cruz said. "That is the belief and the pathway that we have in the development and our coaches, in the culture and the model, and how we're trying to continue to develop these players into first and foremost good human beings, and then good soccer players."
Wynder also is not the only area native to represent Louisville at the national team level. Ella Sanchez, Mario's daughter who is a Racing Louisville FC Academy product, received a call-up for the FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup in September 2022.
"It's an awesome feeling to represent my city and hopefully, this will just bring more attention to Louisville and what we're doing here," Wynder said.
"We got to find the next one," Sanchez said. "We can't just stop here, right? Again, our objective is to find the next one. And this should be another moment for the soccer community here where everyone in young kids and parents say, 'If Josh can do it, why not that next person?' And that's one thing we got to continue to do."
"When you look at the quality that we have here in Kentucky, it's easy to think that our market isn't as big, so you do not have as big of a selection of players as maybe the East Coast and West Coast," Cruz said. "But we see quality here. And I see it every single day when I'm leaving my office at 6:00 and the turf fields are full of our academy players."
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