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USMNT analysis

Amidst a breakout season in Orlando, Ellis holds ambitious goals with the USA

ASN's Brian Sciaretta spoke at length with new U.S. natioanl team attacker Justin Ellis who is a key part of a talented, emerging American generation
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
September 23, 2026
12:55 PM

THE FIRST EIGHT WEEKS of the 2026 MLS season went about as poorly as possible for Orlando City FC. The team accumulated just four points from eight games was forced into a coaching change. Fast forward five months to today, Orlando has continued to climb up the Eastern Conference table and now sits above the playoff line.

A lot of things have gone right for Orlando over the summer. Obviously, the addition of legendary French World Cup winner Antoine Griezmann has given the team much-needed firepower. But the development of young American forward Justin Ellis has also paid massive dividends.

Ellis, 19, made his season debut for Orlando on April 18 as a substitute in a loss to Houston. But four days later, he broke into the starting lineup where he has remained for most of Orlando’s games ever since. Now entering this international break, Ellis has three goals and nine assists in MLS games.

Orlando’s interim head coach Martín Perelman has asked a lot of Ellis this season. Developed as a center forward, Ellis needed to adapt when the club acquired Griezmann over the summer in a blockbuster move. That was also compounded when Orlando signed forward Daryl Dike who is looking to reboot his once promising career after a wave of injuries.

 

The minutes were no longer there for Ellis at center forward. But Perelman still wanted to keep Ellis on the field and instead needed Ellis to adjust and play different positions. At times he played wing, other times he played as a second striker behind either Griezmann or Dike. As Ellis continued to thrive in these roles, it highlighted perhaps his greatest strength in his versatility.

“I don't mind playing other positions ss long as I have freedom to do what I want on the ball.” Ellis said of his versatility. “Then I have no problem playing anywhere. But obviously, I've played a number of different positions on the right, on the left, as a 10, as a nine, false nine, double nine - whatever you want to call it. Like, I played a ton of different position. But I think that just makes me a more complete player and the coach has more options.”

Most apparent in this, Ellis was able to develop striking chemistry with Griezmann where the two have connected and combined for multiple important goals over the past two months.

“It's a dream come true to play with a striker like him,” Ellis said of Griezmann. “I knew we were bringing like an unreal player, but when he joined I had mixed thoughts because I thought my playing time was going to go down but I knew I was going to learn a lot from him. But I kept my place and I kept performing. We've been able to play a lot together. I think we have, not really like a similar play style, because obviously he's a lefty, I'm a righty and I like to dribble more. But we like the same type of football and we love connecting with each other. He loves looking for me and I, and I love playing the ball to him. We have a very good connection on and off the field.”

The relationship between the two exists off the field as the former Atletico Madrid legend has helped to serve as a mentor to Ellis.

 

“Off the field, we don't really talk too much about soccer,” Ellis added of his relationship with Griezmann off the field. “We're just good friends off the fields. In terms of advice that he's given me, I hear the same thing from everybody that I need to work on my defense. I feel like I've improved a lot in that aspect. But he tells me if I defend more and defend better then I can do great things in this sport. He also tells me that sometimes to switch it up. He knows I like to dribble a lot and like play a little flashy but he says sometimes switch it out. Sometimes play simple, sometimes play your game. He's helped me so much with this.”

While Philadelphia, New England, and Red Bull New York typically receive the most attention with ushering in young American players, Orlando has also been very successful.

 

In 2025, Alex Freeman broke into Orlando’s starting lineup at right back and within a year became one of the league’s best players at his position. That saw him quickly integrated into the full national team where he became a starter at the World Cup.

Ellis is hoping to follow suit and he is quick to point out how well Orlando has been for his development. Specifically, he singled out Javier Carrillo - the club’s Academy Director and the Head of Player Development who convinced him to move north from his native South Florida and join Orlando. Prior to that, Ellis had been with the academy levels at Inter Miami in 2021 and 2022. He added that he left because: “I think they kind of just stopped believing in me."

 

“He’s definitely one of the most influential people, not just in my soccer, but in my life,” Ellis said of Carrillo and Orlando’s academy program. “He really changed my life. I was in a pretty dark place, mentally or physically. I didn't really know where I was going to be playing my soccer. Then he gave me a call and I answered. He brought me to Orlando. I struggled for a bit in the academy but he was always there for me, always supporting me. It got better every year, with every training. He changed me mentally, but also physically. He's been unbelievable and he has a special place in my and my family's hearts."

Like the rapidly fast development Freeman showed, Ellis is also progressing quickly. Elis is now one of the top American prospects in MLS, and he was one of 12 Olympic eligible and eight U-20 eligible players called into the current U.S. national team camp by head coach Mauricio Pochettino.

This camp features a blend of players who featured over the summer at the World Cup combined with top U.S. youth internationals, such as Ellis.

U.S. U-20 national team head coach Gonzalo Segares has watched Ellis develop this year and Ellis featured for that team in June in the last camp prior to the CONCACAF U-20 Championships, where the U.S. team finished second but qualified for the 2027 U-20 World Cup. Orlando ultimately decided not to release Ellis for that tournament, but he remains part of that team’s player pool.

“When I first started working with him, he was a nine, but then I see him getting into the pocket and turning guys and giving all these amazing assists,” Segares said. “You can see the qualities that he has and how impactful he has been for Orlando. He has the ability to play multiple positions and still be impactful in them. He does a great job, holding up the ball, posting, combining one-twos, and he loves to play those combinations. I saw it here with the national teams and you see it with Griezmann and the teammates around him. He also has a good instinct for goal. So, he’s either scoring goals or assisting, which is great and at the end he’s one of the reasons Orlando is back in the mix for the playoffs.”

It is undecided, however, whether Ellis will play with the U-20 team the remainder of the cycle or if he will instead feature with the Olympic team. There is also the possibility that Ellis could impress at this camp and Pochettino wants to keep him with that squad. Still, the U-20 World Cup and Olympics are more likely scenarios.

Regardless of which national team level Ellis plays after this camp, he will be part of a talented new generation that includes players such as Zavier Gozo, Cavan Sullivan, Neil Pierre, Peyton Miller, Adri Mehetmi, and Mathis Albert who are now taking their first steps with the USMNT together.

While unlikely to play together at the U-20 World Cup next year, Ellis believes this generation is good enough to win it.

“I feel like the 2007s have always been overlooked,” Ellis said. “I feel now people are starting to realize of how good this age is. If all of us get released by our clubs to the U-20 World Cup, I mean every player, then we can win it. We have so many good players and the sky's the limit for our age group.”

There is a much better chance, however, that most or all of these players could be together in 2028 when the Olympics will be in Los Angeles and U.S. Soccer makes a push to field a very strong U-23 team.

“I've been watching all the Olympics ever since I can remember. It's definitely a dream of mine and a goal of mine, especially on home soil. If I'm able to be a part of that, that would be incredible.”

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