The United States Under-18 national team fell to 0-1-1 at the Lisbon International Tournament after dropping a 1-0 result to host Portugal on Thursday.
Portugal's Ricardo Alves scored the lone goal in the 81st minute, and the United States will look to salvage its tournament run on Saturday when it plays Finland. Portugal and the Netherlands will play for the tournament title also on Saturday.
The Netherlands, whom the U.S. played to a 1-1 draw on Wednesday, beat Finland, 5-0, in their Thursday matchup.
U.S. lineup: Jon Kempin, Bryan Gallego, Juan Ocegueda, Boyd Okwuonu, Walker Zimmerman, Daniel Metzger, Michael Ambrose, Wil Trapp, William Packwood (Jack Coleman 57), Victor Pineda (Alex Shinsky 69), Luis Rendon (Jonathan Top 45).
as long as we play individualy and usa players want to be super star rather than playing collectively as a team , we will never beat the europeans, usa u 16 just had a terrible tournament in MONTAIGU FRANCE in april they came in seventh place out of 8 countries.
I’m with you on this.
I just don’t get it, we keep falling against these euro teamas and i don’t see any real progress, we need to improve our training or our coaches, develop better soccer wise players.
PORTUGAL!!!!!!!!! PORTUGAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Viva Portugal!!!!!!!
IMHO, the college game is perfect for those late-blooming players that couldn’t get into academy or other national or pro setups earlier. The influence of college play may diminish, but never really cease completely as an avenue of reaching pro/national soccer.
I wish the U.S. had their own little Chicharito, that guy is sick, we need to train our players better, but I see hope with the academies, college soccer isn’t going to provide the pro environment we necessarily need. I have hope though.
He played and impressed against France. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are just trying out different players. I think he is a known quantity at this point.
No Gil? Did he get injured or something, or are they just trying out some different pieces? Thought he’d be a regular starter for this team.
The depth at LB in this cycle of U20s makes me hopeful that at some point soon we may cure one of our most obvious Achilles heels.