The 2019 Generation adidas Cup is less than two months away and over President's Day weekend we found who qualified for the Champions Division in the Under-17 tournament and which four teams qualified for the Under-15 tournament.
The home team, FC Dallas, are the top qualifiers from the Under-17s and will be participating in the Champions Division again at the 2019 GA Cup. The top eight teams qualify to play in the Champions Division with the remaining MLS teams participating in the Premier Division. The international clubs they will be facing off against will be announced at a later date.
Dallas stormed through Group B, winning all six of their matches, and their GA Cup squad could include some of their top prospects including Dante Sealy and North Texas SC signee Ricardo Pepi.
Three teams from Group A qualified for the Champions Division: LA Galaxy, Real Salt Lake and Seattle Sounders. The Sounders will move up a division after winning the 2018 Premier Division. Some players from that team that could return include Ray Serrano, Josh Atencio, Alfonso Ocampo-Chavez, Danny Robles and Danny Leyva. All five of those players are currently signed to Seattle's USL Championship team, Tacoma Defiance.
Joining those four teams in the Champions Division are Toronto FC, New York City FC, New York Red Bulls and Montreal Impact. Those eight teams will be looking to become the first MLS team to win the Champions Division since the format changed in 2016. Flamengo was last year's winner, with River Plate taking home the trophy in 2016 and 2017.
The remaining teams will compete to become the third straight MLS team to win the Premier Division after the Sounders and New York City FC. That NYCFC team included first-team signees Justin Haak and Joe Scally.
For the first time Under-15 squads will be competing at GA Cup. Four MLS teams will face off against four Liga MX teams in a Ryder Cup-style tournament. LAFC are the top qualifiers among MLS teams and will be joined by Toronto, Red Bulls and Philadelphia Union. The four Liga MX teams competing will be announced at a later date.
The Generation adidas Cup is one of the premier competitive youth soccer tournaments in the world. Players to have played at the tournament include US internationals Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Reggie Cannon, Mexican international Diego Lainez and promising young MLSers like Auston Trusty, Mark McKenzie, Gianluca Busio, Efrain Alvarez and Paxton Pomykal.
