Sixteen-year-old Cavan Sullivan became the youngest player to start a game for the United States since Freddy Adu in 2006 when he was picked in Mauricio Pochettino's XI on Saturday for a friendly against Peru. Though Sullivan drew the headlines, it was fellow teenagers Justin Ellis and Julian Hall that provided the goals as the U.S. won 4-1 in its first match since being eliminated from the World Cup by Belgium in the round of 16 this summer.

Sullivan's stellar form for the Philadelphia Union in MLS earned him his first call-up for the USMNT. He has seven goals and 12 assists in 26 games for the Union, who have surged up to sixth place in the Eastern Conference in recent weeks. With the start, Sullivan becomes the fourth-youngest player (16 years, 362 days) to earn a cap for the U.S. and the youngest since Adu did so in January 2006 at 16 years, 234 days when he came on as a substitute against Canada.

Sullivan made his MLS debut for the Union on July 17, 2024, at 14 years and 293 days old, becoming the youngest player to appear in a league match for a major professional sports league in the U.S. and Canada. He broke Adu's previous record set in 2004 by 13 days. Earlier this month, Sullivan scored in a third successive MLS game and in the process broke a record set by the onetime U.S. soccer prodigy Adu.

Since the resumption of play following MLS' break due to the World Cup, Sullivan has scored six goals and added eight assists in his last eight league games. Pochettino said earlier this month that he and the staff needed to be "careful" in how they manage the young attacker. Following the game against Peru, the U.S. will play friendlies against Chile, Mexico and Canada over the course of the September/October international window.