Hard work has paid off for Sounders FC Homegrown Player Josh Atencio after being selected as an alternate for the United States Men’s National Team in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“It feels great,” he said. “To be able to represent the United States in any capacity for me is a big deal.”
Atencio is just one of four alternates outside of the 18-man roster, with the opportunity to potentially fill in and compete in the international tournament.
It’s been a long time coming for the Academy, spending the majority of his youth career in and out of the youth national team system and transitioning into a more impactful role with the Sounders First Team in the last year.
“He's been in the national team program since he was a U-15 player,” said Sounders FC Technical Director Henry Brauner. “He's been to 15’s camp, 17’s, 20’s…So him getting a chance now with the Olympic team was a really remarkable event and a once in a lifetime [opportunity] for him.”
Atencio’s recent call-up is a testament to his never-give-up attitude and his mindset to challenge adversity head-on. After being overlooked in the past tournaments like the FIFA U-17 and U-20 World Cups, the local product has been rewarded for persistent hard work.
“We always felt he had a very good level of resilience within him,” said Brauner. “And sometimes part of becoming very successful in the future is dealing with a lot of failure in the younger stages of your career and Josh has certainly had that.”
“We're just happy he's getting the recognition he deserves now.”
Since signing with the First Team in 2020, Atencio has made 84 appearances and 46 starts in MLS regular season competition at only 22 years old.
Atencio’s performances are the primary reason for this call-up, but his approach to every match and training session that cemented his opportunity participate in the 2024 Paris Olympic games.
“He's going to be super supportive regardless of his role…He’s always going to give you a level of personability that sometimes escapes other players at times when it's not always going their way,” said Brauner. “What you can count on Josh doing is he’ll maintain a level of consistency in his play that's going to allow you to have good culture, good cohesion, but also when needed, and called upon, he's going to be just as ruthless as the guy that's in front of him.”
Atencio believes his development the Sounders organization since joining at the youth level also prepared him as he’s navigated the USYNT landscape over the years and eventually made his way to the Olympic squad.
“The Academy, every year, felt like we were playing international opponents and exposing ourselves to different play styles,” he said. “On top of that, being at the Sounders and having players from just a variety of countries, we can kind of see the differences in the play styles like how João Paulo and Léo [Chú] play differently than Nouhou…So to be able to train and play against these world class players from different places every single day of training makes a big impact on [my] ability to play on this stage.”
To feel proud of his Olympic call-up is an understatement for the Bellevue native.
“It’s an incredible honor,” said Atencio. “To be here, and to make the squad means a lot to me.”
His family feels the same.
“My dad was really proud, my mom was really excited, my brothers and even my extended family, everyone reached out,” said Atencio. “I was getting a lot of texts, so it was really a special moment.”
Atencio and the U.S. squad kickoff the Olympic tournament against the host nation France on July 24 in Marseille before facing New Zealand on July 27 in group stage play.
“Everyone's very together and everyone's really eager,” said Atencio. “So, I'm really excited for these games to start and for us to be able to measure ourselves against these other [countries].”
