By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
The Philadelphia Union has called up 14-year-old Wonder Kid Cavan Sullivan to the first team. He may make his debut for the struggling team this week.
The Union signed Sullivan back in May. He has been playing for the Philadelphia Union II team ever since.
Now, he may make his debut at home with the first team. The Union has two home games this week.
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On Wednesday night, the Union faces the New England Revolution at Subaru Park. Then, several days later along the Delaware River, the Union play the visiting Nashville SC on Saturday evening.
MLS then goes on an All-Star game break before starting Leagues Cup action. Their next MLS games are not scheduled until August.
“Cavan’s earned the right to be in the 20 if you just go through the numbers,” Union head coach Curtin said. “He’ll get that opportunity now and the next step is working hard to get your first minutes. Sometimes that might be one minute, that might be 15 minutes, that might be 90 minutes. But you have to earn it and I think Cavan understands that and recognizes it.”
If he does play in one of these games, he will be the youngest player ever in the top-tier North American sports leagues. This includes Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the National Basketball Association, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, and the National Women’s Soccer League.
The youngest player ever to suit up in an MLS game was Freddy Adu when he made his debut for D.C. United in 2004. He was 14 years old and 306 days old.
Curtin says that he has been surprising them in practice.
“When we’re at training, there are still two or three moments where he does something where you go, ‘Okay I can’t teach that. That’s something that’s ingrained in a young kid where his talent is elite,’” Curtin said.
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Sullivan is the brother of Union player Quinn Sullivan. He comes from a soccer family.
Once he makes his debut, he may be the lone bright spot for a struggling team that is currently second-to-last in the MLS Eastern Conference standings.
The Union have not won a game since March 30th at Subaru Park. Their last win came on May 18th against the Revolution, which is just one of four on the season.
“I think our fans are going to love watching him play for years to come,” Curtin said in mid-June. “The sky’s the limit. I do still say he’s a generational talent, one who can really change the game by himself and one that has such a quick first step [where] it’s maybe something we need too, to unlock a defense, to go 1v1.
“It’s a hard thing to do in our game, is to beat the first man. That changes the whole picture of the game in front of you and Cavan certainly has that whether it’s at the U-17 level, the second-team level, and now the first-team level in the training sessions that we’ve gotten to work with Cav. He’s only going to get better and better each and every day.”
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