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USA tops Canada, 3-0, in CONCACAF U-17 final (Updated with Highlights)

  USACrest

For 90 minutes of regulation the U.S. Under-17 men's national team failed to break through a Canadian defense that had gone an entire tournament without giving up a goal.

Then overtime came, and the goals began to pour in.

Nathan Smith, Andrew Oliver and Alfred Koroma scored overtime goals to help give the United States a 3-0 victory in the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship final in Montego Bay, Jamaica on Sunday night.

Smith broke through Canada's defense in the second minute of overtime with a 35-yard curling laser into the far top corner. That goal followed a late-game rush by the United States, which overcame a sluggish first half with a stronger second half.

Overtime was all USA, with Smith's goal opening things up for the American attack. Oliver scored his fourth goal of the tournament by racing behind the Canadian defense to make the score 2-0.

Here are the match highlights:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGiQQn1O3us]

 

Things turned ugly late, with Oliver and Canada's LaPenna drawing red cards after a skirmish. The United States made it 3-0 with Komora capping the scoring in the final minute.

What did you think of the match? Which players impressed you? Think the United States can make some noise at the World Cup?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. man that sucks that in a sport, the US has better athletes…wait what?

    On another note, enough complaining Canadians. I hate this mentality of ‘oh man we played really well so we DESERVED it’
    It is such a wimpy defeatist attitude. The English and other Europeans say the same crap. You know who ‘deserves’ to win? The team that kicks/heads more balls past their opponents’ goal line in compliance with the laws of the game. That’s who ‘deserves’ to win.
    That’s life. Sometimes you work hard but the other guy gets the ‘lucky break’ which as you know: luck is merely the byproduct of hard work.

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  2. Ok, A.) Your name is pretty awesome (I just taught an annelid dissection this week) B.) I knew it could bend through a prism but I never knew you could get an actual curve through water and syrup.

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  3. Sunday was the best day of the weekend. U.S. beat Canada and the Knicks beat the Heat!!

    I thought Aleman was good in the Panama game and unimpressive in the U.S. game. For all the hype surrounding him from the announcers (he’s the mvp of the tournament), I thought he was completely shut down. The U.S. was definitely the better team and I hope we get a chance to play Mexico in Azteca.

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  4. Couldn’t you technically curl a laser through a prism? I guess it depends on your interpretations of “bending” and “curling”. *This ends the nerdy response to your soccer related joke*

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  5. To bad, the final would have been against Mexico. I think Mexico got the chance to host the U-17 WC because they already won the U-17 WC in peru, I think they can do it again at home this time. Congrats USA…

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  6. I’m a Canadian and I would say that the US was the better side on the day. US clearly field a team of superior athletes, who were better coached and looked far more fit in extra time (Canada chased the play for the whole 2nd half so that might have been a result talent not conditioning).

    Having said that this was a very good showing for Canada at international age group tournament. These age group tournaments really tend to favor the nations with larger populations or at least larger participation numbers in the sport (Canada’s population is 10% of the US and our soccer participation numbers aren’t like those in central america). This was a real breakthrough for Canada. The Canadian roster was comprise almost entirely of players from the Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver Academies which are really just getting established.

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  7. I don’t have blinders on at all.

    On the contrary, I am disappointed in the Canadians. They played an English style game.

    The US at times showed they could ping the ball out of tight spaces and create space for themselves. Can they do it for 90 minutes? Not yet, they are still U17s.

    I never had the sense that the Canadian back line could use their midfield to get the ball out of pressure. They booted up to their forwards.

    As development goes, I think I kids are getting there. Not there yet, but getting there.

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  8. my nostradamus comment was in reference to this:

    “With age these kids on Canada will surpass the kids on the US”

    Sorry, but at the age of 16-17 you have no idea how these players will pan out. You may have an idea of how they MIGHT turn out, but blank statements like this does nothing for your point. Players at this age level are a crapshoot. Some pan out, most don’t. If 3/4ths of this team is lucky, they’ll be regular MLS’ers. Actually that goes for both US and Canada’s U17’s.

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  9. Well 16 year olds can be selfish. I would rather a player at this age have the talent to take on 3 players with an occasional bit of success than always pass because he doesn’t have the skill to even try. Good coaching can teach better decision-making in not too long a time as the player gets older (most parents of 20 year-olds can tell you how much more easy to reason with kids become as they get out of their teens.) It takes years of individual effort coupled with some innate talent to develop skill.
    My prognostications:
    #16, Oliver, will look like a smarter player in a few years, but he will still be able to take on players 1v2 successfully.
    #11 Pelosi already looks to be smart, has some great skills and is still just a skinny kid who is not dominating by sheer size and athleticism.
    The keeper in this game looked fearless, made all the saves he should have, a couple saves that robbed Canada and except for one tentative moment made solid decisions. Ya can’t ask for much more.

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  10. Meh, I know it is a rough thing to say about 16 year old kids, but color me unimpressed. Again, we as fans are appluading results in an age group when results are not the most important thing, skills are. Anyone else see Pique say that the Barca youth system places emphasis on skill, and winning takes a back seat? Grit, hustle, determination are all nice but I wasn’t blown way by the collective skill or any single skill.

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  11. Yeah, they do. While you don’t want to subdue the exuberance of youth, the US had the game well in hand, but let, at least, one of it’s players take his focus off the game and into some personal payback. The result is that a good US player will miss the first game of the U-17 WC.As a youth coach myself, I’ve learned that the discipline, and/or lack of, pushes itself into the persona and habits later in life. A god lesson to be learned for the next potential US stars.

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  12. I agree the USA’s superior conditioning is how they won the last two games. You could tell Canada and El Salvador were dying out there in the extra time period. Not sure how the USA will do at the WC… they still have work to do as the midfielders and forwards need to have more of a cohesive and less selfish presence.

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  13. You crack me up; The US had NO shots on goal in that first half. Canada had a one-on-one with our keeper… I love it. Your right the US dominated the game from 20 on and we are soon to be world champs, and all these kids will be on either Barcelona, Real Madrid, Man U, or one of the Milan’s. Come on we only played well the last 20 min of regulation when compared to Canada at that time.

    The US was lucky to get by El Salvador, Panama out played the US as well (1-0 win was the same as Canada’s 1-0 win, but to tell the truth I didn’t watch the Canada-Panama game). The US has better athletes, that’s it.

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