USL Championship, League Two Trio Selected in U.S. Squad for Concacaf U-20 Championship

ATLANTA – A trio of players from the USL Championship and USL League Two have been named in the United States’ squad for the upcoming Concacaf U-20 Championship, with the Charleston Battery’s Colton Swan, Louisville City FC’s Brandon Dayes and Swarm FC’s Braden Dunham set to head to Puebla, Mexico for the tournament which kicks off on Friday, July 24.  

The United States has been drawn in Group A and will face Haiti in its opening game on Saturday, July 25 at 8 p.m. ET. The side will also face El Salvador (July 28) and Cuba (July 31) with the top two teams in the group automatically advancing to the knockout stage. The four teams to advance to the Semifinals will qualify for the 2027 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. 

Swan heads to the tournament having made a standout start to his first season with the Battery in the Championship. The 19-year-old forward has recorded 11 goals across all competitions, including a team-high seven goals in league play. Swan has also posted a 60.9% shooting accuracy rate and posted a strike rate of a goal every 109.6 minutes in league play this season. He previously recorded a goal and assist for the U.S. U-20s earlier this year as the side visited Argentina for a pre-tournament camp. 

Dayes steps into the U.S. U-20s for the first time, having previously earned his first call-up to the USYNT program earlier this year at the U-18s level. The 17-year-old graduate of the Louisville City FC Academy has been a fixture on the club’s back line this season, ranking second on the team with 14 interceptions while also recording 42 clearances and a team-high 87.5% passing accuracy rate in league play. 

Dunham earns his latest call-up having spent the past summer with Swarm FC in USL League Two, where he made five appearances and logged 334 minutes in helping the side reach the USL League Two Playoffs. Joining Dayes in the defensive corps, Dunham previously had a standout freshman season at Furman University, recording seven goals and three assists in 23 appearances for the Paladins, and earned selection to the United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men’s All-South Region Second Team.