ATLANTA — Major League Soccer today announced that Atlanta United midfielder Andrew Carleton was named to the 2017 MLS Homegrown Team. The 2017 Homegrown Game, presented by Energizer®, is the fourth annual edition of the event leading up to the MLS All-Star Game. The match will take place Aug. 1 at Chicago’s Toyota Park when a roster of MLS Homegrowns take on Chivas de Guadalajara’s Under-20 team.
Carleton, a 17-year-old native of Powder Springs, Ga., signed with Atlanta as the club’s first Homegrown Player on June 9, 2016. He made his MLS debut on May 20 in a 4-1 win over Houston Dynamo at Bobby Dodd Stadium. He made his first start in Atlanta’s U.S. Open Cup match against Miami FC, winning a penalty in the second half. He was part of the United States U-17 team that finished as runners-up at the CONCACAF U-17 Championship in May, which earned the U.S. a spot at the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup in India that will begin in October.
The MLS Homegrown Game will feature some of the most talented young players in North America, as the Homegrown Team will take on famed U-20 side Chivas de Guadalajara, the defending Liga MX U-20 champions, which features a roster with five players who represented Mexico at the U-20 World Cup. Several of the players have also received time with the Chivas reserve team along with the first team side that captured its record 12th Liga MX title in May. The Chivas U-20 travelling roster will be named at a later date.
The MLS Homegrown Game provides an annual platform in which to showcase MLS’ burgeoning young talent and demonstrate the growth of the league’s youth development system. MLS academies continue to attract and cultivate topflight prospects and have now produced over 170 Homegrown Players who have signed professional contracts with MLS clubs.
