KC native eyes World Cup spot with U.S. Men’s National Team, which plays here Sunday

Former Sporting KC Academy soccer player Erik Palmer-Brown is excited to take the field at Children’s Mercy Park again ... this time, as a member of the U.S. Men’s National Team.

When the USMNT faces South American juggernaut Uruguay at Children’s Mercy Park on Sunday (4:30 p.m., Fox/Univision), it will be the first time he’s stepped onto that field in Kansas City, Kan. since October 2017.

But let’s back up and outline how Palmer-Brown arrived at this point. A native of Lee’s Summit, he was on soccer’s radar by the time he reached his teenage years. He represented the U.S. Youth National Team at all age levels and by 2014 had started earning minutes with Sporting KC. He was still just 17.

By age 18, he’d been signed by Premier League club Manchester City.

“I wanted to play more, and the biggest lesson I learned was that nothing was ever given to you,” Palmer-Brown said during a recent interview.

He credited Major League Soccer veterans like the recently retired Matt Besler and Ike Opara, not to mention the Sporting KC coaching staff, with helping him stay engaged even when he wasn’t seeing much playing time.

Unlike Gianluca Busio — the most recent Sporting KC Academy product to head overseas — Palmer-Brown left after his contract expired in 2017. There was no record transfer fee, just a big opportunity to play in Europe.

Manchester City’s system for bringing aboard young players meant Palmer-Brown would be loaned to a series of lower-level clubs. He spent time in Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria before securing a permanent spot with Troyes, a Ligue 1 side in France, on a contract that extends through 2024.

“When you move overseas, you’re away from everyone,” Palmer-Brown said Friday. “You’re missing out on the little things, like going to college, doing those fun things. You have to grow up as a person, grow up as an individual.”

Palmer Brown’s play down the stretch this season helped Troyes stave off relegation (a fate that Busio’s Venezia team could not avoid). “EPB” earned Troyes’ player of the month award for April and made 20 of his 23 appearances after Jan. 1.

Along the way, Palmer-Brown earned the call-up that currently finds him on the USMNT roster in Kansas City amid the final window for World Cup qualifying. He earned his first minutes with the senior team against Mexico.

Now, with the USMNT already assured of competing in Qatar this winter, this summer’s matches present an opportunity for Palmer-Brown to cement a spot on America’s World Cup roster.

A devastating injury to Miles Robinson of Atlanta United has opened the door for another center-back to step up. Palmer-Brown faces competition for that role, to be sure, but his career trajectory puts him in prime position.

“In KC, I was just a really young guy, still going through the motions of learning how to be a professional,” he said. “And now being in Europe, and having a little more experience, (I’ll be) using that experience from being younger to now, to take that into hopefully making a World Cup roster.”

This story was originally published June 3, 2022 at 3:45 PM.