Cristian Roldan joining the United States Men’s National Team for the World Cup wasn’t the only national team news for Sounders players this week. In addition to Roldan joining the senior national team, a trio of younger Seattle Sounders earned call-ups as well. Stuart Hawkins joins the U.S. U-20 squad, Stuart Brunell will be with a U-19 team, and Sounders Academy forward Leo Flores Gonzalez has been called up by the U-18s.
Hawkins will be in Bansko, Bulgaria for friendlies against Georgia and North Macedonia on June 5 and 8. The young centerback has previously made five appearances with the U-20s, including four during the team’s run to a second-place finish in the 2024 Concacaf U-20 Championship before missing out on last fall’s U-20 World Cup. His return to fitness and the field with Tacoma Defiance has provided him with the opportunity to re-establish himself in the national team set-up.
Brunell’s ascension into the Sounders lineup, where he has made 12 starts in 17 appearances across all competitions, positions him well going into this U-19 camp at the Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer Training Center in Fayetteville, Ga. The camp, which will run from June 1 to 9 and feature a friendly against Japan on the 9th will serve as something of a warmup ahead of the Concacaf U-20 Championship in July. That competition serves as the region's qualifying process for the U-20 World Cup next year. Brunell has 5 appearances with the U-19s already, but in those appearances he’s mostly been used as a substitute. Based on his performances with the Sounders it’s fair to expect him to play a larger role going forward.
Academy player Leo Flores Gonzalez, 18, may be less familiar than the two players above, but he’s certainly a name to know for Sounders fans. In 409 MLS Next Pro minutes, the young forward has a goal and an assist, and consistently looks like a threat when he’s on the field. Flores Gonzalez will join a U-18 squad for camp in Oliva, Spain, where they’ll play friendlies against a Sweden U-18 side and a Qatar U-19 side on June 5 and 8, respectively. The young man from Yakima may continue playing with Defiance for some portion of the Summer after returning from camp, but after that he’s expected to begin his college career after committing to play for Seattle University.
