Last night, Huntsville City FC lost 6-1 to their parent club Nashville SC in a friendly, the annual Space Cowboy meeting between the two teams.
Ben Wright
With a lot of Huntsville's key players temporarily moving up to play with Nashville for the evening, the Rocket Men fielded a side of mostly Nashville academy players and unsigned trialists. Some of the trialists are highly-thought of prospects in the American youth development landscape, and would be exciting additions to the Huntsville squad were they to sign permanently.
Here at SixOneFive Soccer, we're diving into the unsigned players, looking at their ceilings and what they could bring to the Nashville organization.
Jaziel Segura
Midfielder | 19 years old
Jaziel Segura is the first player on trial with Huntsville from Ocelot Academy in Los Angeles, and previously played in Los Angeles FC’s academy as a U15 player.
This past winter, Segura trialed with Club América and was invited back for preseason, but ultimately returned to Ocelot Academy.
Eddie Calderon
Attacker | 16 years old
Eddie Calderon is a young attacker and the second player from Ocelot Academy. Calderon has been a key player for Ocelot’s UPSL Premier team this season, and he has gone on trial with Los Angeles FC and Pachuca over the past year. Given his age, if he signs, I would expect it to be a dual contract with the Nashville academy, where he is also given playing time with Huntsville, similar to the contract Gabriel Alonso is currently on.
Ocelot Sports is a soccer brand in California that focuses on Mexican-American players. Jonny Pérez signed with their management team around the same time he secured his permanent move to NSC, and recently, two more players—one born in ‘09 and the other in '10—are heading to Nashville’s academy for trials.
Agents and relationships play a major role in soccer transfers, especially at the lower levels, where it’s much harder to find footage of players. It seems NSC has a strong connection with Ocelot Academy, and we’ll see what develops from that relationship over the next year.
Danial Sebhatu
Left winger | 20 years old
Danny Sebhatu, a product of Atlanta United’s academy, was once a highly regarded prospect, but I haven't found any record of him playing soccer since 2023.
Sebhatu made a few appearances for ATL 2 after debuting in the USL in 2021 at age 16. During the 2023 preseason, he trained with the Atlanta United first team and was called up to the Ethiopian senior national team in the summer of 2023. Since then, it’s been pretty quiet. It’s great to see him back on the field, and he scored a really nice goal last night for Huntsville.
Leo Christiano
Defender | 18 years old
This move should surprise those who follow MLSNP. Leo Christiano has been a standout player for a bad Sporting KC 2 team, playing over 900 minutes for the last-place squad. That would put him at the second-highest total of minutes this season among U20 players on the Huntsville roster, behind only Alan Carleton.
This is definitely something to be excited about. His profile closely resembles that of Carleton, who looks set to be named Huntsville’s Player of the Season. Both were top youth prospects on their U18 teams, yet neither managed to break into a struggling first team despite performing well for the Next Pro team. Additionally, both were offered MLS Next Pro contracts, even though they deserved a Homegrown deal. Carleton was probably the better player at the time, but he was also older.
Christiano officially left SKC back in July and was rumored to be joining New Mexico United in USL, but he also received some offers from Europe. I assume Huntsville wants this to be a permanent signing for 2025 through 2026.
Not the move referenced below:
— USMNTProspects (@ProspectsUsmnt) August 1, 2025
I think USL is going to be bringing in another prospect of note.
Had someone pass along to me that Leo Christiano (07), formerly of Sporting KC’s academy, is going to be joining New Mexico in USL. He’s a LB/CB. May have eyes on Europe soon too. https://t.co/9Hw4Kt7Bgs
Tristan Weber
Left winger - left back | 25 years old
Tristan Weber has bounced around a lot, with his most recent appearance in 2023 for Portland 2.
Going into the 2025 season, we saw an ideology change from Huntsville implementing an age ceiling of 24 for new signings. Of course, some of them have turned 25 during the season, but Weber would be joining the squad as one of the oldest players on the roster.
To me, this seems like a numbers move, and it likely is just a trial, with head coach Chris O'Neal referencing maxing out their short-term contracts to be able to field a squad for last night's friendly. But you never know.
