Houston Dynamo midfielder Christian Lucatero been added to the MLS Homegrown Team’s roster, which will face the Mexican Under-20 national team in the 2016 Chipotle MLS Homegrown Game on Wednesday, July 27 at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California. Lucatero is an injury replacement for Seattle Sounders FC midfielder Aaron Kovar.
Lucatero, 19, signed with the Dynamo as a Homegrown Player last August and has spent the season on loan with Rio Grande Valley FC, the club’s hybrid USL affiliate. Lucatero has three assists in 15 appearances with RGV FC this season and also appeared for the Dynamo against Real Sociedad in the BBVA Compass Dynamo Charities Cup on May 24.
A Pasadena, Texas native, Lucatero joined the Dynamo Academy in 2010 with the U-15s and was named Dynamo Academy Player of the Year in 2013 and Players' Player of the Year in 2014. The 18-year-old was named USSDA Central Conference Player of the Year last July after scoring 26 goals in 27 games with the Dynamo Academy U-18s this season, tied for fifth in the nation.
Lucatero played for the United States Under-20s in a game against France last September and was part of camps with both the U.S. and Mexico Under-18 national teams.
The Pasadena High School graduate helped lead the U-18s to the Academy’s first Frontier Division championship in 2015 and to the quarterfinals of the USSDA Academy Championships. In two seasons with the U-18s, Lucatero scored 41 goals in 54 games.
