USMNT Record Breaker Cavan Sullivan Writes More History on International Return

Even on a night when his own manager described him as “solid” if not spectacular, Cavan Sullivan still reached a new landmark.

By stabbing the ball into a chaotic six-yard box for Milan Iloski to bundle in, Sullivan racked up his 13th assist of the league season (the same tally as a certain Lionel Messi). Coupled with his seven top-flight strikes, Sullivan has had a direct hand in 20 MLS goals this calendar year, the joint-most any teenager has ever amassed in a single season across the competition’s 30-year existence.

Alphonso Davies had only been able muster 19 during his stellar final year for the Vancouver Whitecaps in 2018 before joining Bayern Munich, while Diego Fagúndez matched Sullivan’s record in 2013 with New England Revolution.

Most Prolific Teenagers in MLS History

Data via MLS.

The differing fates of those two prodigious predecessors show how uncertain Sullivan’s future continues to be. Davies would blossom into one of the world’s foremost left backs at Bayern, winning every available piece of silverware as the club’s first-choice speedster. Canada’s captain has even enjoyed international success, scoring his nation’s first ever goal at a men’s World Cup in 2022 before skippering his country to the round of 16 on North American soil this summer.

Fagúndez didn’t quite reach those heights. The former Uruguay youth international never left MLS, enjoying a decade in New England’s first team before spells at Austin FC and LA Galaxy led him back to the Revs this year. Still only 31, Fagúndez is yet to fight his way past being anything more than a substitute. While he can lay claim to the record of the most direct goal contributions in MLS among any active player, Sullivan has his sights set beyond the States.

If the Union’s teenage phenom is to continue to shine, racking up goal contributions while falling below his normal standards is a happy habit to get into. “I did not think it was his best game,” Philadelphia Union’s interim manager Ryan Richter reviewed.

“He was solid, I would say. Even in a game where he wasn’t electric in the way he has been in most games, he still has a hand in the first goal for the assist, and then he kind of makes the play that leads to the action for the second goal.

“Even when everything is not coming off perfectly ... he still finds a way to create both goals that we had tonight.”

What Next for Sullivan?

Consistency is a goal to strive after, if not expect, for a player of Sullivan’s juniority. That the 17-year-old is currently on a sequence of seven consecutive MLS appearances with a goal or an assist is a ridiculous run that should not be taken for granted.

Rather than tangible output, Sullivan’s challenge is to maintain the attitude which has so enamored him to Mauricio Pochettino. The U.S. men’s national team manager had a message for the teenager and his youthful compatriots across their upcoming slate of club fixtures before the next international break in November: do not get complacent.

“It’s not, ‘I am an international now. My teammate needs to run for me,’” Pochettino warned. “No, you need to run for you and for your teammate. Yes, that is a mentality that we are trying to apply and I think they are so smart and intelligent. They have talent for sure. They would use that experience to be much better players, with more experience.”