US U-20 Men Take Haiti to Task....
The US U-20 Men's National Team broke their first game of qualifying for the US U-20 World Cup wide open, winning easily by a score of 4-1. The exciting start to the qualifying tournament hopefully is a sign of things to come as the US has games against Guatemala and Panama still to come.
Andre Akpan, sporting an immense hairdo, showed that Harvard is a place to learn soccer skills as well as academics. His hat-trick backed up Head Coach Rongen's decision to start the college forward in place of professionals Josmer Altidore, Preston Zimmerman and Johann Smith. This was Akpan's first international match, making Rongen's decision even more daring and in hindsight, brilliant. Recent MLS draftees Chris Seitz and Anthony Wallace started the match while Amaechi Igwe got into the game as a late sub and Bryan Arguez kept the bench warm.
I didn't get to see the whole match, but a review of the goals showed a happless Haiti trying to keep the Americans from scoring. Each of the goals could have been stopped by a better keeper or at least prevented by a skilled defense. Haiti had neither. They also didn't have a midfield to possess the ball or forwards to take shots. Well, I take that last one back; Haiti managed 7 shots while only three were on goal. Without the late penalty, Haiti would have left without a goal.
The second match of the night on GolTV was Guatemala and Panama. It looks like both of these teams should be able to put up a better fight than Haiti. The US will play Guatemala tomorrow and Panama on Sunday. Finishing within the top two of the group to grab a seat at the U-20 World Cup got a lot easier today, but until tomorrow can't be assured.
While Akpan and Danny Szetela were singled out for solid performances, Freddy Adu seemed to earn the "where is he playing" award. While the American captain didn't make mistakes per say, he was not a force on the game and sometimes seemed like he wasn't there. As I've said before, this U-20 World Cup is where Freddy needs to prove himself if he wants to continue being seen as the US Soccer golden boy.
Congrats to the young Nats and good luck against Guatemala! For those with access to GolTV, Friday's game will be shown at 6:30 pm est.
Andre Akpan, sporting an immense hairdo, showed that Harvard is a place to learn soccer skills as well as academics. His hat-trick backed up Head Coach Rongen's decision to start the college forward in place of professionals Josmer Altidore, Preston Zimmerman and Johann Smith. This was Akpan's first international match, making Rongen's decision even more daring and in hindsight, brilliant. Recent MLS draftees Chris Seitz and Anthony Wallace started the match while Amaechi Igwe got into the game as a late sub and Bryan Arguez kept the bench warm.
I didn't get to see the whole match, but a review of the goals showed a happless Haiti trying to keep the Americans from scoring. Each of the goals could have been stopped by a better keeper or at least prevented by a skilled defense. Haiti had neither. They also didn't have a midfield to possess the ball or forwards to take shots. Well, I take that last one back; Haiti managed 7 shots while only three were on goal. Without the late penalty, Haiti would have left without a goal.
The second match of the night on GolTV was Guatemala and Panama. It looks like both of these teams should be able to put up a better fight than Haiti. The US will play Guatemala tomorrow and Panama on Sunday. Finishing within the top two of the group to grab a seat at the U-20 World Cup got a lot easier today, but until tomorrow can't be assured.
While Akpan and Danny Szetela were singled out for solid performances, Freddy Adu seemed to earn the "where is he playing" award. While the American captain didn't make mistakes per say, he was not a force on the game and sometimes seemed like he wasn't there. As I've said before, this U-20 World Cup is where Freddy needs to prove himself if he wants to continue being seen as the US Soccer golden boy.
Congrats to the young Nats and good luck against Guatemala! For those with access to GolTV, Friday's game will be shown at 6:30 pm est.
posted by Bonji at
1:00 PM
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