San Jose Earthquakes trio named to Concacaf Olympic qualifying preliminary squad

Three San Jose Earthquakes players have been named to the United States’ preliminary roster for the upcoming Concacaf Olympic qualifying tournament.

As expected, goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski and midfielder Jackson Yueill are on the list, as is forward Cade Cowell, who is only 17 and much younger than most of his teammates on the list, but who got a call-up to the training camp held by U.S. Soccer in December and is in consideration to take part in the qualifying tournament, set for March in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The final roster will be 20 players, which means probably two goalkeepers will make the cut. Marcinkowski is one of six GK call-ups — another has Earthquakes ties, as former Earthquakes Academy goalkeeper Drake Callendar, now with Inter Miami, is also on the preliminary roster. So I think Marcinkowski has a good shot of going but it’s maybe not yet a slam dunk.

Yueill is probably one of the few locks to be on the final roster, while Cowell’s status is unknown. U.S. U-23 head coach Jason Kreis is holding a training camp starting next week in Guadalajara, and it’s unclear if all the players on the preliminary roster who are currently not playing for their clubs will take part or not. Stay tuned.

Two other Earthquakes players, midfielders Eric Calvillo and Gilbert Fuentes, were not on El Salvador’s preliminary roster and while they could still be called in and included in the final roster, it looks unlikely either player will take part in Olympic qualifying at this point.

The U.S.’ first game in the tournament is March 18, and final rosters have to be submitted by March 8. We’ll keep you posted on developments related to the Quakes and Olympic qualifying when we learn more.

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