Future Manchester City player and Philadelphia Union prodigy Cavan Sullivan became the youngest player to appear in a Major League Soccer match.
The 14-year-old stepped on the field and played his part in ending the Philadelphia Union’s 10-match winless streak. Philadelphia emerged victorious with a thumping 5-1 win over New England.
At the age of 14 years, 293 days, Sullivan was introduced into the game in the 85th minute. He toppled Freddy Adu’s record by 13 days. Adu held the record since 2004 when he made his debut for DC United at the age of 14 years, 306 days. Sullivan will continue to play for Philadelphia in the MLS till he turns 18. In his contract, there is a clause that will see him move to Manchester City in the Premier League when he turns 18.
After Sullivan broke his record, Adu took to social media to congratulate the youngster for toppling his feet and wrote, “Big congrats to Cavan Sullivan for his record-breaking debut today. That’s a hard record to break and the kid did it. Well done and good luck my man.” Recently, Sullivan bagged two goals with the Union’s MLS NEXT Pro side in back-to-back matches which led to his call-up to the senior team.
Philadelphia head coach Jim Curtin opened up about Sullivan’s inclusion in the squad and stated that the youngster deserves to be in the team because he has earned it.
“He will be in the 20 because he’s earned that. If you look at his performances in Union II games, the goals that he has scored, Cavan has earned the right. The next step is working to get your first minutes and that might be one minute, might be 15 minutes or that might be 90 minutes, but you have to earn it,” Curtin said as quoted from Goal.com.
The Philadelphia Union will look to keep the winning momentum on their side when they play Nashville on Saturday at Subaru Park.
(WITH INPUTS FROM ANI)
