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USA U-17s vs. France: Your Running Commentary

U.S. Soccer Federation

The future of the United States men's national team is on display in Sarasota, Fla., as the U.S. Under-17 national team takes on France on the opening match of the 2011 Nike International Friendlies (5 p.m., Fox Soccer Channel).

The match is the first of three for the U.S. U-17s, who will face Turkey on Friday before wrapping up play against Brazil on Sunday.

Coach Wilmer Cabrera has a 20-man roster at his disposal for the tournament, with 16 of those players coming from Development Academy clubs. Here's a more detailed look at the roster from U.S. Soccer, along with an interview with Cabrera in which he talks about the next wave of U.S. talent.

If you will be watching today's match, please feel free to share any thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below. Enjoy the action.

Comments

  1. Ives:

    You state that these games are being played in Sarasota.
    Actually they are being played in the Lakewood Ranch subdivision of Bradenton, FL. I live 10 minutes away, my kid trains with the Clearwater Chargers, who are based there, and I was at the France-U.S. game.

    Davo

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  2. I too was impressed at how comfortable and inventive they looked. Another thing is, they did there best not to panic. They stuck to what the coaches have been teaching them. Weather the storm and play their way out of that tough stretch. Yes, the French looked good in all aspects, but our defense seemed to cover for each other well, and never panicked too much.

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  3. Like someone pointed out earlier. This U-17 group is for the 2013 cycle. So, I imagine our kids were in the 15 year old range. I don’t know about the French, but depending on their size and maturity expressed out there on the field of play. I’ll have to say that the French were much closer being 17 while our guys didn’t look too far past their 15 birthdays. My heart really went out to that kid Turner (the OG scorer), you could see the heartbreak all over his face, but kudos to him for stepping up his game after that and the kids pulling out a tie.

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  4. Its tough to say because the level of fanaticism (across the whole country) in the soccer mad countries is so much greater than ours.

    Other countries do care about their youth teams but as NATO says the focus is especially on what kids are attached to the best domestic and foreign academies.

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  5. I’m impressed with this U17 US team. Inventive, good passing, skilled, athletic, fast. Yeah, not as smooth or skilled as the french, but close.

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  6. i just turned to check out the game and saw a play… 3 u.s. vs. 2 defenders, then followed it up by our own goal on a simple clear.

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  7. Claudio Reyna was interviewed at half, and it was really refreshing how clear he was in the academy system’s goals for these kids – he said the USA was behind in the ability to pass short & medium distances at fast pace. That’s where they want to improve with the U17 age group.

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  8. 1-Christensen; 4-Moore, 2-Donovan, 6-Turner, 3-Requejo Jr.; 8-Heredia, 5-Kabala, 7-Rubin; 10-Mejia Flores; 9-Wade, 11-Robinson
    via @ussoccer_ynt

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  9. I’m impressed with this team. Anybody have a link to the guys starting with their corresponding number. This kid who’s the #4 is all over the field and looks threatening every time he gets the ball. Good stuff

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  10. definitely no interest. People overseas only care if the young guys are part of their clubs or in their academies and all that. But it’s good that our guys are finding better opponents. They need to find more technique and excel, winning isn’t too important at that level.

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  11. Can anyone compare the interest in the youth teams here in the US to that in other countries? Are we Americans more/less/equally interested in our youth teams?

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