At 15, Miami academy player becomes youngest goal-scorer in USL history
Inter Miami will finally play its first home game on Saturday night against Orlando City, but history was already made on the field Wednesday night.
Fifteen-year-old Felipe Valencia of Homestead, an Inter Miami youth academy forward who was called up to the club’s USL team Fort Lauderdale CF, became the youngest goal-scorer in USL history when he scored the game winner in a 3-2 victory over North Texas SC. He is 15 years and 5 months old.
In addition to the goal from Valencia, the team got two goals from USL League One leading scorer Ricky Lopez-Espin and two assists from Eduardo Sosa.
The previous league record for youngest goal-scorer was held by Bayern Munich left back Alphonso Davies, who came up through the Vancouver Whitecaps academy and scored his first USL goal at 15 years, 6 months. Davies, now 19, signed with Bayern Munich in the summer of 2018 for a $22 million transfer fee.
Valencia normally plays for Inter Miami’s U17 team and in March was one of 36 players invited to camp with the U.S. U15 national team. He previously played for Kendall Soccer Coalition.
“Developing our youth talent is a cornerstone of Inter Miami CF. Congratulations to Felipe and all our boys especially those academy products who have had their pro debuts in the last few weeks,” team owner Jorge Mas wrote on Twitter.
Inter Miami resumes its regular season on Saturday at 8 p.m. against Orlando City, which reached the final of the MLS is Back Tournament in Orlando and beat Miami 2-1 in the tournament opener. Miami is looking for its first win after five one-goal losses so far in the club’s inaugural season.
The game will be played with no fans in attendance. It will be televised in South Florida on CBS-4 and UNIMAS.