With the smell of ice cold Coors Light still clinging to their hair, fresh from the celebrations following the Seattle Sounder’s 3-0 victory over Inter Miami in the Leagues Cup final on Sunday night, several players are now on their way to join various national teams during the international window. Five first-team players were called to represent their countries either with their full national teams or with youth teams, while a couple of additional players from the Sounders organization’s development system received call-ups as well.
Nouhou and Georgi Minoungou will be headed to join Cameroon and Burkina Faso, respectively, in African qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup. This is the second-to-last group of games for the current round of qualifying, with group winners qualifying for the World Cup and the four best runners-up out of the nine groups moving on to the second round of qualifying, where they’ll play in a playoff to decide who represents the Confederation of African Football in the inter-confederation playoffs.
Nouhou and Cameroon currently sit in second place in Group D with 12 points through six games, one point behind Cape Verde. They’ll have a chance to overtake Cape Verde for the top spot when the two teams face off on Sept. 9, but first Cameroon play last-place Eswatini, who have two points and a -5 goal differential so far. Cameroon are so far undefeated in qualifying with three wins and three draws and a +8 GD.
Georgi Minoungou has received his first call-up to the Burkina Faso national team and could make his debut as they look to solidify a place as one of the best second-place teams. Minoungou, who is from Ivory Coast, is eligible to play for Burnkina Faso through his father and made the switch in July. Burkina Faso currently sit in second behind Egypt in Group A. Egypt have a solid hold on that top spot with 16 points (5-0-1, +12), while Burkina Faso are five points behind them with 11 (3-1-2, +6) and three points ahead of Sierra Leone with eight (2-2-2, +0). Les Etalons (the Stallions) will host last-placed Djibouti on Friday before taking on Egypt on Sept. 9.
Reed Baker-Whiting and Obed Vargas have each been called up to the U.S. and Mexico U20 sides as their teams prepare for the U20 World Cup in Chile, which kicks off at the end of September.
Baker-Whiting and the U.S. U20s will be in San Pedro del Pinatar, Spain where they’ll be playing a pair of friendlies against Morocco on Sept. 5 and 7. Tacoma Defiance interim head coach Mike Morris is also on the U20 staff. Meanwhile, Vargas and his Mexico U20 counterparts will be in Argentina to play friendlies against Colombia and Saudi Arabia.
Both players will likely face a tough choice in the coming weeks when it comes to playing in the U20 World Cup. Vargas is clearly an established pro and a key player for the Sounders, and RBW has been making an increasingly strong case for a larger role with Seattle over the last month or so. Should either player go to the World Cup, they’d almost certainly miss no fewer than three games, and potentially miss as many as the last five games of the regular season. The tournament starts on Sept. 27, and with camps forming up ahead of time in preparation, if either player goes they’d probably be available for the games against the LA Galaxy and Inter Miami on Sept. 13 and 16 before heading off to join their national teams.
The U.S. has also called players in for a group of “National Team Domestic Identity” camps representing the U17, U19 and U20 age groups. Tacoma Defiance goalkeeper Mohammed Shour has been called into the U20 identity camp, which will take place in West Palm Beach, Fla., while Snyder Brunell will join the U19 camp in Fayetteville, Ga. Additionally, new academy goalkeeper Jackson Dale has been called in for a U16 USYNT camp.
