Marko Mitrović takes U.S. U-20 job – MIR97 Media

Marko Mitrović is set to be named the new head coach of the U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team, sources tell MIR97 Media. The Serbian coach most recently coached Team USA to a quarterfinal appearance at the Olympics in Paris.

Mitrović, who served as an assistant coach to Veljko Paunović with the Fire from 2016 to 2019, has been with the U.S. Soccer Federation since 2022. He was initially hired as the U-19 national team coach, bringing Fire homegrowns Justin Reynolds and Sergio Oregel into the fold, before being chosen to lead the U.S. in its first men’s soccer Olympic appearance since 2008.

Officially, Mitrović replaces Michael Nsien in the job – Nsien coached both the U.S. U-22 team at last year’s Pan-American games (including Chicago’s Oregel and Javi Casas) and the U.S. U-20 team at this summer’s CONCACAF U-20 Championship while Mitrović was in France with the U-23 team. Both Mitrović and Nsien were briefly a part of the senior U.S. Men’s National Team setup in 2023 during B.J. Callaghan’s interim stint as head coach, including for the spectacular victory in the Nations League that June.

Given Mitrović’s success with the U-23s in establishing an identifiable, attractive style of play and decent results throughout his tenure, he could also emerge as a viable candidate for vacant MLS jobs this fall. There has been no shortage of U.S. assistants and youth team coaches who have taken domestic club jobs in the last few years, including Josh Wolff (Austin FC), Nico Estévez (FC Dallas), Luchi González (San Jose Earthquakes), Mikey Varas (San Diego FC), and B.J. Callaghan, who the Fire will face tonight when they take on Nashville SC.

Only one Chicago Fire player is expected to be involved in the U-20 pool for the rest of the cycle, which will culminate with the FIFA U-20 World Cup in the spring. The aforementioned Sergio Oregel was a rotational player for the U.S. in the CONCACAF Championship this summer, which saw Nsien’s team reach the final before a shocking, gut-wrenching overtime loss to Mexico. Oregel’s most significant contribution came with a game-winning assist against Guatemala in the quarterfinals, the goal that officially qualified the U.S. for the U-20 World Cup in Chile.

The only other Chicago native in that team was Brooklyn Raines, who is now with the Houston Dynamo; the 2005 age group’s star player, Esmir Bajraktarević, briefly played with the Fire, too, but recently defected to the Bosnian national team. Former Fire academy midfielder Dylan Borso, who now plays for Wake Forest in the ACC, is one final wild card who could emerge in the U-20 pool, though given his lack of previous youth national team involvement, that seems unlikely.