Julian Araujo on U.S. U-23 squad for Concacaf Olympic qualifying

As expected, LA Galaxy defender Julian Araujo made the cut and is officially on the U.S. U-23 Men’s National Team squad, after head coach Jason Kreis made his final selections this week ahead of the start of Concacaf Olympic qualifying next week in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Araujo is the only current Galaxy player who will be in the qualifying tournament, although another Galaxy academy product, Ulysses Llanez, now at Bundesliga side Wolfsburg, is also on the U.S. roster.

The U.S. will play group stage games against Costa Rica on Mar. 18, Dominican Republic on Mar. 21 and Mexico on Mar. 24. If they finish in the top two in their group, they’ll go to the knockouts, and have to win their first knockout game to officially qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, scheduled for later this year.

This means Araujo won’t miss any time with the Galaxy due to the qualifying tournament, which will wrap up before the MLS season kicks off, and we’ll see if the Americans qualify and if he gets called up to the Olympic squad. All in due time on that front.

Congrats to Julian, please stay healthy, and best of luck in qualifying.

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