Four Real Salt Lake Players Named To Olympic Qualifying Rosters

SANDY, Utah – Real Salt Lake has three players that have been called up to the United States Men’s National Team roster for the CONCACAF Men’s Olympic Qualifying Championship with another player joining Honduras’ roster for the tournament.

RSL Academy products that will join the United States includes goalkeeper David Ochoa along with defenders Aaron Herrera and Justen Glad. Forward Douglas Martinez was called up to the Honduras National Team.

The qualifying championships will be held from March 20 to April 1 in Guadalajara, Mexico.

All four players will be unavailable for Real Salt Lake in their next match on the road against the Columbus Crew. The players will join their national teams to prepare for the tournament and will not return until the completion of the tournament.

.@realsaltlake's David Ochoa, Justen Glad, and Aaron Herrera made the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Roster for the United States. ⚽🇺🇸 #RSL #RSLonKSL pic.twitter.com/E2IzDg16w3

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) March 9, 2020

United States U-23 Men’s National Team and former RSL head coach Jason Kreis is looking to qualify for its first Olympic Games since 2008 that had a 20-man roster that included five players from the RSL Academy.

The U.S. will begin Group A play on Friday, March 20 against Costa Rica at 5 p.m. on FS2. Then they will battle the Dominican Republic on Monday, March 23 at 5 p.m. on FS1. The group stage will wrap up with a match against rival Mexico on Thursday, March 26 at 9 p.m. on FS1.

“With a lot of games in a short amount of time, we will need the contributions of all 20 players on this roster to achieve our ultimate goal of qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo,” Kreis said.  “This is our sixth time together with this U-23 group, so I think we have a real firm understanding of how we want to play and who we want to be.”

Glad, 23, is in his seventh season with Real Salt Lake and started in the season-opening draw against Orlando City SC. The veteran has 108 starts in 110 appearances in his MLS career, including a stretch of 50 consecutive starts from 2017-2018.  A regular for the U.S. during the current Olympic cycle, he also played in the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup and previously appeared for the U.S. Youth National Teams at the U-18 and U-17 levels.

Herrera, 22, is in his third season with RSL and started both matches thus far this season. In 2019, he led RSL in minutes played with 2,768, starting in 31 of his 32 appearances on the season, logging four assists. He has 50 appearances and 47 starts during his time with Real Salt Lake. Herrera has made three appearances for the U.S. U-20 National Team in 2017 on its run through the CONCACAF U-20 Championships and the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Ochoa, 19, signed with RSL prior to the 2019 season. The young goalkeeper made his professional debut in 2018 with the Real Monarchs as an Academy call-up on April 22, 2018 and has since helped the Monarchs claim the 2019 USL Championship title last season. He helped the U.S. contingent qualify for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup, earning shutouts in both matches he appeared in, including a 1-0 shutout of Honduras in the CONCACAF Championship semifinal round and played in two matches at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Martinez, 22, signed with the Monarchs prior to the 2019 season and went on to lead the team in scoring with 16 goals while adding seven assists on the year. Since signing with RSL on August 31, he continued with the Monarchs, scoring one playoff goal to help lift the USL Championship title. Martinez made his second career MLS appearance on Saturday in a 1-1 draw with the New York Red Bulls. Internationally, Martinez scored for Honduras in his debut last year, earning three caps for his country.

Honduras opens the tournament against Haiti on March 21 at 4 p.m. Then on March 24, they will battle El Salvador at 7:30 p.m. before closing out the Group Stage against Canada at 7:30 p.m.