By Sam Kovzan – SportingKC.com
Sporting Kansas City defender Jake Davis and goalkeeper John Pulskamp have been selected as alternate players on the U.S. Men’s Olympic Soccer Team roster for the 2024 Olympics in France, U.S. Soccer announced today.
U.S. Soccer announced today the 18-player squad for the U.S. Men’s Olympic Team ahead of the Olympic Men’s Soccer Tournament. Davis and Pulskamp are two of four alternate players who may replace any member of the U.S. squad in case of injury during the competition. Alternate players can be added to the 18-man roster up until eight hours before the start of each match, including all rounds of the knockout stage.
The Olympic Men’s Soccer Tournament is restricted to players under the age of 23, with each team allowed three overage players on its roster. Competing at the Olympics for the first time since 2008, the U.S. will open its tournament campaign on July 24—two days before the Opening Ceremony—against host France in Marseille. The Americans will then face New Zealand on July 27 in Marseille before meeting Guinea in their Group A finale on July 30 in Saint-Etienne. The top two teams in all four groups will advance to the knockout stages, which will run from Aug. 2-9.
The U.S. Men’s Olympic Team roster, assembled by head coach Marko Mitrovic, includes former Sporting Kansas City midfielder and academy product Gianluca Busio—who was MLS teammates with Davis and Pulskamp in 2021—as well as the overage trio of Djordje Mihailovic, Miles Robinson and Walker Zimmerman.
Davis has earned his first national team selection since joining the U.S. U-17s for the 2019 Nike International Friendlies in Florida. The right back and central midfielder has logged 64 appearances for Sporting in all competitions since debuting as a 19-year-old in 2021. A product of the Sporting KC Academy, Davis also played 62 matches for Sporting KC II from 2019-2022.
The 2024 campaign has seen Davis tally two goals and two assists with starts in 21 of 24 total appearances. The 22-year-old opened his MLS scoring account with a long-range strike in a 3-1 road win over Toronto FC on March 30 and scored an equally impressive goal from distance at Austin FC on May 18. Davis is second on the team with 22 key passes during the 2024 regular season and ranks eighth in MLS with 52 tackles.
Davis blossomed into a key contributor for Sporting during the 2023 campaign, starting 36 straight games in all competitions during an 11-month stretch from May 2023 until this April. Sporting went 16-9-7 when Davis started last season and 0-8-3 when he did not. The club also found its form during the summer and fall, advancing to the MLS Cup Playoffs and upending No. 1 seed and archrival St. Louis City SC with a convincing two-game sweep in the Round One Best-of-3 Series. His banner season culminated with Sporting KC Defensive Player of the Year honors as Davis ranked fourth in MLS in tackles won while becoming the fourth player in club history to play 2,000 minutes in a regular season before the age of 22.
Davis split time between Sporting and SKC II in 2022, playing 17 total matches and helping the first team reach the semifinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. He also scored two goals during Sporting KC II’s first season in MLS NEXT Pro under head coach Benny Feilhaber.
A native of Rochester, Michigan, Davis moved to Kansas City in 2017 to join the Sporting KC Academy and represented the club at the U-17 and U-19 levels. He made his first SKC II appearance in 2019 and featured regularly for the club from 2020-2021. Davis signed his first MLS contract as the club’s 19th homegrown player on Aug. 19, 2021, and debuted for Manager Peter Vermes’ side the following month in a 4-0 victory over Minnesota United FC at Children’s Mercy Park.
Pulskamp returns to international duty after starting for the U.S. Men’s Olympic Team in a 1-1 friendly draw with Iraq last November in Spain. A month earlier, the 23-year-old appeared in exhibition victories over Mexico and Japan in Phoenix.
As a youth international, Pulskamp represented the U.S. U-18s at a training camp in June 2018 at Compass Minerals National Performance Center—Sporting’s world-class training home in Kansas City, Kansas—before making his U.S. U-20 debut in a friendly against Mexico in January 2020. In December 2021, he trained with the U.S. senior national team at a California training camp following a breakout season in MLS.
A native of Bakersfield, California, Pulskamp has collected 11 shutouts and posted a 15-15-8 record in 38 first-team appearances across all competitions since signing for the club in early 2020. He has played an additional 44 matches for Sporting Kansas City II since 2019, spread across the USL Championship and MLS NEXT Pro. He has started four matches for Sporting in 2024, including Open Cup wins against Union Omaha and FC Tulsa to help Sporting reach the quarterfinals.
Pulskamp kept clean sheets in four of his 10 appearances for Sporting in 2023, featuring in MLS, Leagues Cup and U.S. Open Cup competitions. He also played nine MLS NEXT Pro matches for Sporting KC II, where he posted a 7-2 record and won both shootouts in which he participated.
In 2022, Pulskamp hit MLS career highs with 12 games played, five wins and three shutouts, finishing the year with a 5-4-3 league record. He also helped Sporting reach the Open Cup semifinals, starting four matches during the club’s tournament run. Pulskamp made his MLS debut in April 2021 by becoming the third-youngest keeper in league history to win a regular season match in a 2-1 victory at the New York Red Bulls. He ended 2021 with a 3-2-1 record as an MLS starter.
Pulskamp arrived in Kansas City in 2019 after a two-year stint in the LA Galaxy Academy, where he competed at the U-17 and U-19 levels in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy. During his time with the Galaxy, he also went on trial with English Premier League outfit AFC Bournemouth in 2018. Prior to joining LA, he represented youth academies Real So Cal and Central California Aztecs in his home state.
Active Sporting KC Players at Olympics
1996 – Matt McKeon (United States)
1996 – Chris Snitko (United States)
2000 – Chris Brown (United States)
2012 – Roger Espinoza (Honduras)
2024 – Jake Davis (United States)
2024 – John Pulskamp * (United States)
* Alternate player
