Brady, Gutiérrez aiming for Team USA Olympic spots

This summer, for the first time since 2008, the United States will compete in men’s soccer at the Olympics. Unfortunately, for this generation of unprecedented American talent, only 18 players will make the final cut for Paris. The Chicago Fire’s two brightest young stars – Chris Brady and Brian Gutiérrez – are among the players hoping to be a part of head coach Marko Mitrović’s highly-anticipated team.

Chris Brady

Brady, who only turned 20 this winter, is one of the youngest players competing for a spot on Team USA; the age cutoff for the U-23 competition is January 1st, 2001, so the Fire’s 2004-born goalkeeper is on the back end of the four-year cycle. Despite his rapid ascent in the last 12 months into one of MLS’ better goalkeepers, he still finds himself in a three-way dogfight to make the Olympic team; the Columbus Crew’s Patrick Schulte seems to be Mitrović’s go-to number one, while ex-Fire homegrown Gaga Slonina has usually been preferred in the national team setup since his first senior call up in 2021.

Nonetheless, when Slonina missed the most recent U.S. camp last March due to injury, Brady stepped in and performed well, keeping a shutout in his lone appearance against Guinea. The Fire’s miserable form since the start of 2024 has had little impact on the young keeper, who has kept his head down and consistently made big saves to prevent the team’s current crisis from becoming even worse than it already is.

Coach Mitrović is familiar with Brady both from his time as Veljko Paunović’s assistant coach with the Fire and with U.S. Soccer. Brady says his call-up to March’s U-23 camp was a beneficial experience as he looks to make the final team.

“Now it’s about carrying the concepts that we talk about in camp over to the club scene and making sure I'm taking pride in my performances,” Brady told MIR97 Media in a recent interview. “Maintaining the high level, and then the rest will work itself out.”

Brady’s stellar performances for club and country over the last two years still may not be enough to force Mitrović’s hand and put him ahead of Schulte or Slonina. Slonina’s uncertain club future may play to Brady’s benefit here as his current club, Chelsea, could want to send him on loan to continue his development, and that may or may not impact his availability for the Olympics. In the end, even if Brady is viewed as third best in the eyes of the coaching staff, he would likely travel to France with the team as one of four total alternates, though he would then be unable to play unless one of the two other keepers were to be injured.

Brian Gutiérrez

A few months ago, Gutiérrez seemed like a lock to make the Olympic team. He has consistently performed well when he puts on the U.S. shirt and appeared in a U-23 friendly win against arch-rival Mexico last fall. Unfortunately, that camp last October was his last national team call-up, and now, he seems to be on the outside looking in.

Despite a bright start to the season on opening day, scoring a screamer against the Philadelphia Union, Gutiérrez was surprisingly left off of the U.S. U-23 roster for the preparatory camp in March. He was among the final cuts from that 22-man squad, but though he scored two goals in the weeks following his snub, “Guti” has found himself in a slump in line with the Fire’s over the last two months.

Coach Mitrović has been keeping a close eye on the 20-year-old and has watched him play for the Fire at Soldier Field several times in recent months, but with stiff competition from the likes of Taylor Booth, Cole Bassett, Paxten Aaronson, Griffin Yow, Cade Cowell, and highly-rated ex-Fire academy prospect Esmir Bajraktarević, it now seems unlikely that Guti will be a part of the final squad. Nonetheless, he’s hoping to stake his claim in the coming weeks and force his way back into the team.

“I think I'm still in the picture,” Gutiérrez said. “I really haven't had conversations with [Marko] or anyone lately, but I feel like I'm still part of the group… Something that every player wants to do is play for their country and represent their country. It’s a really big motivation for me.”

Though Guti has appeared for the United States at several youth levels dating back to his time with the U-16s, his heritage also makes him eligible for Mexico, an alternative that now seems more real than it once was. Representatives of El Tri have recently been in touch with Gutiérrez’s camp, even though Mexico failed to qualify for this year’s Olympics after a historic shootout loss to minnows Guatemala in the qualification tournament. Thus, interest in Guti would be with a future senior call-up in mind; he’s yet to be called into a U.S. senior camp, and Mexico’s struggling national team could potentially provide a pathway to more immediate international action.

“It’s still the same,” Gutiérrez said of his international future. “I’m thinking under the radar, deciding which, so I don't have a concrete answer right now. I need to see what my options are.”