Orange County Soccer Club (Orange County SC) forward Jamir Johnson was called up by the United States Under-18 Men’s National Team (U-18) to head to their international training camp in Olivia, Spain. All players in the camp were born before January 1, 2008 as part of the initiative aimed entirely at youth players, many of whom, like Johnson, are in the early stages of their career. The camp, which is running from June 1 to June 9, contains twenty players and will face off against the U-18 Swedish National Team on June 5 and the U-19 Qatari National Team on June 9.
Johnson began his career in the youth academy of Philadelphia Union, making his professional debut in 2024 in the United States for Philadelphia Union II, the Major League Soccer (MLS) side’s reserve team in the developmental MLS Next Pro league. In his first season, he played in nine games, recording no goals or assists in 231 minutes of play. In his second season, he totalled 12 games played, two goals, and an assist in 169 minutes mostly off the bench, increasing his stock as he was named an MLS Next All-Star. He scored an 89th minute penalty in the All-Star Game, securing the win for the Eastern Conference.
In addition to his career at the club level, Johnson also participated in international play, receiving his 22nd cap for the United States Youth National Team (USYNT) before his most recent call-up to the Spanish training camp. In addition, he scored seven goals in international play at the youth level. He most notably was selected for the USYNT U-17 team that participated in the 2025 U-17 World Cup in Qatar. He was amongst five forwards called up and the second from Philadelphia Union. During that tournament, he registered an appearance off the bench in a 2-1 USA win against Tajikistan and started in a 1-0 win against Czechia, though he was substituted off at half-time.
Johnson capped his 2025 campaign by playing in the Otten Cup, a European youth invitational tournament for which he donned the uniform of Dutch side PSV Eindhoven.
On January 22, 2026, Orange County SC announced the 17-year-old signed his first professional contract with the team. This was despite a trade that secured his Homegrown Rights to the LA Galaxy club in a larger trade that sent Norwegian defender Jakob Glesnes alongside Johnson’s rights for cash. He played in five games for Orange County SC, scoring no goals or assists in 209 minutes of play. He has also made two starts in the Prinx Tires USL Cup, scoring his first goal in United Soccer League (USL) from a well-tipped cross off the boot of striker Yaniv Bazini. Johnson, who was well-positioned for the shot, scored the only goal of the night for the County Boys as they lost their second Prinx Tires USL Cup game 2-1 to Phoenix Rising FC.
Johnson is the only player currently playing in the USL Championship, classified as a Division II league by the United States Soccer Federation, to have been called up for the training camp. The camp is intended to showcase the “U.S. Way philosophy,” opening up greater opportunities for American youth players to advance through to the senior United States Men’s National Team (USMNT). The nearest international tournament is the FIFA U-20s World Cup in 2027 to be hosted in Central Asia.
Orange County SC could not be reached for comment.
Stanley Shi is a Sports Intern for the spring 2026 quarter. He can be reached at szshi@uci.edu.
Edited by Jack Fedor.
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