Mounsef Bakrar, Tayvon Gray called up for international duty

Six New York City FC players have received call-ups from their national teams for the latest window of international matches.

Three players from New York City's First Team are in their country's squads for important 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, though none will miss any part of New York City's MLS schedule, as the team has a two-week break following the home match vs. San Jose Earthquakes.

Tayvon Gray is joining Jamaica for qualifying matches at home against the Dominican Republic on June 6 and away to Dominica on June 9.

Mounsef Bakrar, who received his first call-up to Algeria's senior national team in March, returns to Les Fennecs for qualifiers against Guinea and Uganda, also taking place on June 6 and June 9.

Backup goalkeeper Tomás Romero, a standout during New York City FC II's US Open Cup run, has been called in by El Salvador. La Selecta play World Cup qualifiers against Puerto Rico and St. Vincent and the Grenadines on, you guessed it, June 6 and June 9. They also have a friendly vs Peru scheduled for June 14.

Three New York City youth standouts also recently spent time on international duty.

Christian McFarlane was with the England U-17 squad at the U-17 European Championships. McFarlane made four appearances, three starts, for the Young Lions as they made a run to the quarterfinals of the tournament.

McFarlane went 90 minutes in an impressive 4-0 win over France's U-17s to kick off the tournament's group stage and collected an assist in a 3-1 win over Spain that sent England into the quarters.

The England U-17s fell in their quarterfinal match vs. Italy, with McFarlane playing all 90 minutes of a 1-1 draw but not taking a spot kick in the penalty shootout that decided the outcome in favor of the Italians.

McFarlane grew up on Long Island but is from Basildon, England originally—and the dual-national 17-year-old, who is reportedly headed to Manchester City, remains competitively cap-tied to England after appearing in both the qualifying for the U-17 European Championships and in the tournament itself.

Speaking of promising young dual-nationals, Máximo Carrizo was also called up for international duty and with a slight twist.

Carrizo joined the United States's U-16 squad for friendlies in Buenos Aires against Uruguay on May 27 and Argentina on May 30, and started for the United States in the friendly against Argentina.

Argentina happens to be the other country the 16-year-old Homegrown player has represented, and seemed like where Carrizo was headed for his international soccer after the player's father publicly criticized the U.S. youth national team and its handling of his son following a May 2023 call-up for a U-16 tournament in Japan.

Carrizo had previously been called into camps by Argentina for the country's U-17 and U-15 teams, but was back with the United States despite the complaints voiced about his involvement one year ago.

Carrizo wasn't the only New York City academy prospect to play for the United States U-16s against Argentina.

Evan Lim, a 16-year-old central midfielder, started alongside Carrizo in that 2-2 draw. Lim also featured for New York City's U-17 team at the prestigious Generation Adidas Cup this past April—he's another young midfielder to watch if you're looking to identify potential next recipients of Homegrown contracts.