The U.S. U17s round out play in the three-team Group B on Friday, Feb. 18, against Panama with a 4:30 p.m. ET kickoff at Jarrett Park. The top two teams in each group will advance to the quarterfinals with Group B set to crossover against Group. A which is made up of Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Haiti. The winner of Group B will face the second-place finisher in Group A, and vice versa. The quarterfinal winners will move on to the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Mexico.">The U.S. U17s round out play in the three-team Group B on Friday, Feb. 18, against Panama with a 4:30 p.m. ET kickoff at Jarrett Park. The top two teams in each group will advance to the quarterfinals with Group B set to crossover against Group. A which is made up of Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Haiti. The winner of Group B will face the second-place finisher in Group A, and vice versa. The quarterfinal winners will move on to the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Mexico.">

Cuba Headlines

Cuba News, Breaking News, Articles and Daily Information

  • Submitted by: manso
  • 02 / 15 / 2011


The U.S. U17s round out play in the three-team Group B on Friday, Feb. 18, against Panama with a 4:30 p.m. ET kickoff at Jarrett Park. The top two teams in each group will advance to the quarterfinals with Group B set to crossover against Group

A which is made up of Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Haiti. The winner of Group B will face the second-place finisher in Group A, and vice versa. The quarterfinal winners will move on to the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Mexico.

“We did not play our best game tonight but we were able to win and that’s important in this tournament,” said U.S. head coach Wilmer Cabrera. “We have to improve ourselves because we did not play a complete game, but hopefully it will be a good lesson for the kids to understand that we have to play our best in every game if we want to go to the World Cup. The most important thing for us is to take care of ourselves first and make sure that we get better and show a better quality to our game.”

Seven players from the U.S. Soccer Development Academy were in the starting lineup, led by team captain Andrew Souders from Crew Soccer Academy.

Solar Chelsea FC striker Koroma put the U.S. ahead in the 27th minute, tapping home a rebound after Oliver’s shot was denied by Cuban goalkeeper Sandy Sanchez. Oliver was on the receiving end of a fantastic outlet pass from Esteban Rodriguez and blew past his mark, firing a low drive that was blocked by a good save from Sanchez and sat up perfectly for Koroma to calmly finish.

Cuba, who had sought to put pressure on the U.S. from the opening whistle by getting numbers around the ball, nearly leveled the score just before halftime when a well-struck shot from distance by Klanze Froese had Fernando Piña beat, but the powerful drive pinged off the crossbar and the U.S. went in the locker room holding a one-goal advantage.

Just as the second half breathed to life, the U.S. doubled their lead. A long ball out of the back from Mobi Fehr was flicked on perfectly by Oliver to Mario Rodriguez’s feet. The striker then took a touch and perfectly placed a back heel right back into the path of Oliver’s feet. Oliver then took a touch while shielding off a defender and slotted the ball past Sanchez.

The goal sparked a renewed vigor to the U.S. attack. Four minutes later, the U.S. pounced on a loose ball and Serna played it ahead to Dillon Serna. Serna smoothly played a ball back to Esteban Rodriguez who calmly took it in stride and slipped it past Sanchez for the third and final U.S. goal.

Cuba snatched one back in the 69th minute when Dairon Perez took advantage of some confusion in the U.S. penalty area to surprise Piña with a well-struck shot. The Cubans had a nice buildup to create the chance, the goal adding life to their effort.

Source: www.soccernation.com/u17-beat-cuba-cms-950


Related News


Comments