From little-heralded second-round draft pick to essential contributor in key, high pressure moments, Hassani Dotson has become one of the most important young players on Minnesota United’s roster. With his recent success in this round of qualifying, he’s now doing the same for the United States U23 Men’s National Team.

The midfielder made his debut for Minnesota United as a sub in the season opener on March 2, 2019 against the Vancouver Whitecaps. Three weeks later, Dotson earned his first start for MNUFC and he would go on to cap off a meteoric rookie season with a clutch goal that sent the Loons to the playoffs. With a total of 42 matches so far, the Oregon State product has tallied up five goals — including several were long-range blasts — and one assist for the Loons. On the national stage, Dotson continues to tally impressive performances and several goals.

The U.S. U23s found themselves in Group A with Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Mexico. Group B consisted of Honduras, Canada, El Salvador and Haiti. The top two teams from each group would advance to the semifinals, with the first seed of Group A facing the second seed of Group B and the first seed of Group B facing the second seed of Group A. The winners of these two matches will book themselves tickets to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

In the U23s’ first match against Costa Rica, Dotson earned himself a starting position. The team won their opening game 1-0. Although Dotson didn’t score or assist the goal, it was his near-post run that brought the defender with him and gave his teammate Jesus Ferreira the opportunity to score the lone goal of the match.

“For me, Hassani [Dotson] is a player that's coming into his own,” said Head Coach Jason Kreis. “He showed us in January how hungry he was and how he was capable of so many different things as a central midfield player. He showed up to this camp probably fitter than everybody else.”

For the second match, they would face the Dominican Republic. Dotson was subject to the six squad changes Coach Kreis made for the match, but this made no difference for the defensive midfielder. The Loon came off the bench and scored two goals against the Dominican Republic, giving the United States a win of 4-0.

“He's worked extremely hard, he's had assists and goals in almost every single training session so, it's really nice to see a player who is coming, I think, in a really good moment and is hungry to help lead this team and push this team forward,” said Kreis. “Couldn't be more pleased for the kid.”

His first goal of the match came at the 73^rd minute as he got off his mark and collected a pass from teammate Djordje Mihailovic and lashed it home for a 2-0 lead. Dotson would then score his second goal just five minutes later from another pass from Mihailovic by opening his hips and slotting into the far corner.

“Very excited that I could execute the plans that he had given us,” Dotson said on FOX Soccer. “I think the whole team put in a good shift and I was the one [who was] able to score the goals. It's a team performance and I'm just very excited to score my first goals of the tournament.”

As the U.S. remained undefeated, they found themselves facing off against another team who had also been undefeated, Mexico. The match was competitive to say the least, as both teams fought to earn the first seed in Group A. One team could only out as a winner and that team was Mexico with a 1-0 win over the U.S. Uriel Antuna would notch the game-winning goal for Mexico from outside the box in the 45^th minute. Dotson tallied up a total of 75 minutes in the match, coming out with a slight injury in the 75^th minute as teammate Tanner Tessman subbed in for him.

“We're just focusing each game at a time,” Dotson said. “That's all we focus on and hopefully we can continue this momentum and qualify for the Olympics.”

The U.S. must prepare themselves for their semifinal match against either Honduras or Canada once the winner of Group B is determined Thursday night at 9 p.m. CT. Dotson continues his journey with his team as they pursue to reach the dream they all have: a chance to play in the Olympics.