Good morning folks. Today marks the U.S. Under-23 national team’s debut in the Toulon International Tournament. The Americans will take on Turkey.
I will be following the match and providing a running commentary. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Enjoy the match.
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FINAL- The Americans will face Ivory Coast on Friday. For those of you interested, Ivory Coast plays Italy in the other group game today at Noon on Fox Soccer Channel.
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FINAL- The Americans paid for being a rusty group that hadn’t played together before. It would have been interesting to see A) how this group would have looked with a game or two under its belt and B) how the full-strength U-23 team would have looked against this young Turkey squad.
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FINAL- Turkey 3, USA 2. The Americans were awful in the first half and good in the second half. If Peter Nowak wanted to see some player stand out, he did in Kamani Hill and Brek Shea.
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92nd minute- Good save from Cervi, who has looked better in the second half.
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88th minute- Time running out for the Americans. Brek Shea has looked very good on the left wing since coming in. This kid has a great future.
Man of the match for the Americans today? Kamani Hill.
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84th minute- Turkey is holding on as the Americans look energized.
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82nd minute- A great play by Brek Shea and probably should have drawn a penalty kick bu the ref ignored a foul.
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80th minute- Jon Leathers has looked very good at left back in the second half. He was getting abused at right back in the first half.
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78th minute- Tell you what, this Turkey team is good. Ozer Hurmaci and Nuri Sahin are stars in the making.
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77th minute- Nice stuff from Kamani Hill in central midfield now and the Americans have actually had more of the ball the past 10 minutes.
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72nd minute- Goal USA. Sammy Ochoa with a blast from 19 yards out. WOW. Turkey 3, USA 2.
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67th minute- Brek Shea comes in for Feilhaber.
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65th minute- Feilhaber leaves the match with a knee injury. He walked off but was clearly hobbled.
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58th minute- GOAL TURKEY- Brunner goes from hero to goat as he gets beat on a long-ball in as Turkey’s forward gets a head on the long pass to make 3-1 Turkey. What a response less than a minute after Brunner’s goal.
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57th minute- GOAL USA. Eric Brunner volleys home a corner kick from about 10 yards out. Nice play for Brunner. Turkey 2, USA 1.
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56th minute- Turkey’s attack has slowed down and the Americans have played better in the second half, but they still can’t make that final pass to threaten the Turkish goalkeeper. I don’t think he has a save today.
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47th minute- Tony Beltran is in for Blake Wagner and Kamani Hill is in for Lee Nguyen.
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HALFTIME- Turkey 2, USA 0. Wow, this is going to be an ugly tournament for the Americans if this first half was any indication.
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46th minute- Apologies for no recent comments, but there’s just nothing good to say. Turkey is dominating. It’s amazing that Umit Davala is the head coach for Turkey. He’s so young.
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37th minute- Bright spots for the U.S. team- Feilhaber and Corey Ashe. Players struggling- Everybody else.
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35th minute- GOAL TURKEY. Nuri Sahin with a clinical finish of a great sequence for Turkey. Turkey 2, USA 0.
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31st minute- Feilhaber is the best player on the field for the Americans but the defense looks overmatched.
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28th minute- The possession disparity must be about 75-25 in Turkey’s favor. Turkey is fun to watch.
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26th minute- Feilhaber with a great little dribble but his cross is cleared out of danger.
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25th minute- USA corner kick, Feilhaber to take it.
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23rd minute- Ferrari with a nice turn and cross but nobody is there.
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20th minute- Cervi with a nice save as Turkey keeps on attacking. Someone should file a missing person’s report for the U.S. central midfield.
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19th minute- A free kick goes in, a Turkish player gets a quick shot off and it is re-directed in by a Turkish forward. Eric Brunner got caught ball-watching a bit as his man scored the goal.
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18th minute- GOAL TURKEY
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16th minute- And for those wondering, the American formation is a 4-4-2, not a 4-3-3.
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14th minute- Sammy Ochoa runs onto a loose ball in the Turkey area but sends his wide-open shot from 12 yards wide of goal. What a wasted gift.
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12th minute- Americans doing a lot of defending on their heels against a fast and skillful Turkey attack. The scary part? This is a Turkey Under-21 team against a U.S. under-23 team, though obviously not THE U.S. Under-23 team.
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7th minute- Cervi with an ugly spill of what should have been a routine catch. He was VERY lucky that didn’t turn into a goal.
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5th minute- Teams are still feeling each other out, though Turkey is definitely going to attack in bunches today.
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PRE-GAME- Here’s the American lineup:
———Ferrari————-Ochoa————
——————-Feilhaber——————-
Ashe———————————- Nguyen
——————–Dalby———————-
Wagner—–Valentin—-Brunner— Leathers
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PRE-GAME- Red Bulls fans must be gritting their teeth at the thought of Brunner starting today.
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PRE-GAME- Someone at FSC thought it would be a good idea to have a boom mike catch Turkey singing its anthem. Not a good idea.
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PRE-GAME- Among the starters for the United States are Dom Cervi, Benny Feilhaber, Eric Brunner, Corey Ashe, Lee Nguyen and Julian Valentin.
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PRE-GAME– The stands are overflowing at this match. Overflowing with emptiness. Wow. Yes, it is a youth tournament.