ORLANDO, Fla. (Sept. 17, 2026) \u2014\u00a0Orlando City SC forward Justin Ellis has been named to the U.S. Men’s National Team’s 28-player roster for the upcoming September and October international window, earning the first senior national team call-up of his career.<\/p>\n
Ellis, 19,\u00a0is one of 13 uncapped players selected by U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Mauricio Pochettino as the program begins a new cycle leading into the 2030 FIFA World Cup. The Orlando City Homegrown could make his senior USMNT debut at Inter.co\u00a0Stadium when\u00a0the United States opens the four-match window against Peru on Sept. 26 in Orlando<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Orlando City Homegrown forward has enjoyed a breakout 2026 campaign, leading the Lions with 12 assists across all competitions. His 10 assists in\u00a0MLS\u00a0play are one shy of matching the league’s single-season assists record by a teenager, a mark of 11 set by Alphonso Davies in 2018 and matched earlier this season by Philadelphia Union midfielder Cavan Sullivan.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Justin has earned this opportunity through his performances and growth this season,” said\u00a0Ricardo Moreira,\u00a0Orlando City SC General Manager & Sporting Director. “We take tremendous pride in seeing one of our Homegrown players receive his first senior national team call-up. It speaks to Justin’s dedication, the commitment of our\u00a0technical\u00a0staff\u00a0and academy,\u00a0and the pathway we’ve built at Orlando City.\u00a0We’re excited to see him represent both our club and our community with the United States.”\u00a0<\/p>\n A native of Wellington,\u00a0Fla., Ellis\u00a0came\u00a0through the Orlando City Academy,\u00a0where he was\u00a0named\u00a0the\u00a0MLS NEXT MVP presented by Adidas and won the Golden Boot as the Lions captured their first Generation adidas Cup title in 2025.\u00a0He\u00a0also\u00a0featured\u00a0in MLS NEXT Pro\u00a0with Orlando City B,\u00a0registering\u00a011 goals and seven assists across\u00a045 appearances\u00a0from\u00a02024-2026.\u00a0Those\u00a0performances earned him\u00a0a\u00a0First-Team contract as a Homegrown Player in February 2026\u00a0and\u00a0he\u00a0has\u00a0since\u00a0emerged as one of MLS’ most promising playmakers and a key contributor\u00a0to\u00a0Orlando City’s attack.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ellis becomes the latest Orlando City Academy product to earn a senior U.S. Men’s National Team call-up and joins former Orlando City Homegrown and current U.S. international Alex Freeman among the players selected to the September-October roster.\u00a0<\/p>\n The U.S. Men’s National Team will open the international window against Peru on Sept. 26 at Inter.co\u00a0Stadium in Orlando before facing Chile on Sept. 29 in St. Louis, Mexico on Oct. 3 in Glendale, Arizona, and Canada on Oct. 6 in St. Paul, Minnesota.\u00a0Tickets for the\u00a0USA-Peru\u00a0friendly\u00a0in Orlando are available\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. (Sept. 17, 2026) \u2014\u00a0Orlando City SC forward Justin Ellis has been named to the U.S. Men’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[7706,115,139,4786,4788,141,140],"class_list":["post-403482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-justin-ellis","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-city","tag-orlando-city-sc","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}