Photo by John Dorton/ISIphotos.com
Plenty can change in terms of player development over the next number of years, but for the time being, the United States Under-17 national team proved that there's much to be excited about when it comes to the future of the U.S. program.
Rubio Rubin, Tyler Turner and Wesley Wade scored first-half goals, as the U.S. U-17s completed an unbeaten run at the Nike International Friendlies in Lakewood Ranch, Fla., with a 3-1 victory over Brazil on Sunday to capture the tournament championship.
Rubin opened the scoring in the second minute off a flicked-on free kick from Junior Flores by creatively redirecting the ball with his back to the goal. The lead was short-lived, as Brazil pulled level in the 16th minute off a strike from distance by Matheus Querioz after a failed clearance.
The U.S. U-17s kept on bringing the attack to the Brazilians during the open affair, though, with Turner scoring the eventual game-winner in the 31st minute, smacking home a loose ball inside the area. Wade doubled the U.S. edge just before halftime, redirecting Flores' cross into the net.
The United States tied France and defeated Turkey prior to Sunday's victory. Wade and Turner led the United States with two goals apiece at the tournament, while Ruben, Flores and DeAndre Robinson chipped in with one each.
Highlights from Sunday's tournament finale are after the jump:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gpdd7J7v2PY]
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What did you think of the match? Excited about the U.S. U-17 results over the past few days? Which U.S. prospects impressed you the most at the tournament?
Share your thoughts below.
I think your missing my point. First, this article is about the U.S. team and not Spain. But to entertain your “nobodies” argument, go Back to 2007 and look at the current club teams for Spain’s players. 70% of that team is currently playing professional football.
If the same ratio were to hold true for our current U-17s, I would argue that that’s doing something, much more than your “not going to do anything” statement.
You must mean that if your not the FIFA Ballon d’Or you’ve done nothing in your career. That’s “just how it is” right?
Rubio Rubin, Tyler Turner, Wesley Wade.
Really?
Why on earth didn’t Carlos Camargo, John Jaffre or David Dubois get starts?
I watched this game, and my strongest impression was that it was extremely rough. I couldn’t believe the things the ref just let go, and some of the yellow cards should have been red.
Since when is OK to kick a guy lying down as you walk by?
The Brazilians took a lot of very cheap shots. They deserved to lose.
Look at the 2007 spain world cup U 17 squad…lots of nobodies.
Flores is not Mexican..he’s Salvadoran, so I doubt we’d lose him to a lowly non-World Cup level program like that if we give him the proper opportunities up the youth ladder (u-20 for example)
idk, the first and the last one were incredible touches. especially the last goal.
That may have been the trend in the past. However, the youth structure and opportunities for these kids have vastly improved since the U-17 days of Donovan and Beasley. I’m not saying that all these players will turn into great pros, but these players are at an advantage to those who played on the U-17s 10 years ago. These kids may not turn into superstars, but the chances that they “are not going to do anything” have decreased over the years.
Your statement “it is just how it is” would be correct if you had changed the last word to “was”.
Yeah, yeah, I saw that. But it didn’t fit with my joke. Maybe he was pointing to his 16 year old girlfriend…
3/4 of these kids are not going to do anything in their careers. it is just how it is.
Not sure if it was in the highlights or not, but after he did the cradle gesture, he pointed to someone in the audience. I’m guessing it was a relative of his who just had a baby.
This!
I still don’t like that all our goals against Brazil was very near the goal and seemed to be pretty scrappy. But I’ll take the win.
Ives,
This article does no justice to US fans, you failed to tell the fact here of how the Americans dominated this game with ball posession, I’ve never seen a US team play this way, we were the ones playing like Bra and they were the ones ripping the ball many times in the air and trying to beat is in the air. Also you failed to give credit to the real hero and super star in Junior Flores, this kid was amazing with his ball control and how he destroyed the Bra back line time and time again….very poorly written by you guys. Very unlike Ives reports, sorry to point it out.
Did any others think the level of skill from this group of players was above the level of most past U-17 residency teams?
I’m just speaking of the players who don’t have MLS affiliations.
The U.S. players who scored are named: Rubio Rubin, Tyler Turner and Wesley Wade??? Absolutely Awesome!
The most beautiful goal of the 2011.
http://bit.ly/rIFfol
It’s not really needed. These kids, for the most part, are already in MLS academies where they’re getting the structured training that they need. If they’re good enough, their MLS teams will sign them out of the acadamies soon enough. No need to rush them.
Just counted…. Half the kids are MLS Academy kids.
MLS needs to expand the generation adidas class and offer some contracts to these youngsters in the near future. MLS doesn’t need to allow there development to slow to but rather should do something similar to what they’ve done with Luis Gil.
Most of these kids are MLS academy youths. I know 5 on the team come from Red Bull Academy alone…..
You’re a downer. Of course it’s too early to start calling any these players “the next big thing”. But it’s a great result for them anyway.
not to be a downer, but while it’s a great result, it truly is too early to tell
Awesome awesome awesome!
Flores can play ball. I am already paranoid that we could lose him to another national team (Mexico)?
As a Mexican-American I like seeing more Latin people around town with USA kits then ever before. I would never dream of supporting Mexico since I was born and raised here.
The big problem we have is depth. Lots of these kids look promising, but what happens if Junior Flores never grows another inch and ends up Freddy Adu 2.0? A high percentage of prospects will always fail, but Brazil has a large supply, whereas we have a handful of kids at Bradenton. That will only change when MLS academies start pumping out tons of talented kids like in other countries.
The past U20 team was damn good, so good it failed to qualify for the World Cup because most of the top guys were with clubs in Europe.
Let that be a lesson to you, where is Zahavi now? Not a top prospect, heck not even in the US national team picture. Israel is now the third team he’s with after Portugal and US.
Is it a rule that you need an alliterative name to score for this team?
Anyone else noticed how happy and passionate these kids were during this game? Went absolutely nuts when someone scored. It’s kind cool seeing that, as a fan of the game. If there are more youth games where the touch and control are at a comparable level to this one, I’d definitely watch more in the future.
I love the pro games, but it’s not often you get to see players so emotionally involved in the outcome of the game. Kinda more entertaining than the senior team sometimes.
Wow. I’ll give our “every one we missed” to Brazil’s “every one they missed” anytime.
Agreed but I’ll get more excited when this starts happening on the u20 level. It’s lot of time between now and the senior level.
As we all know, the US actually has had a lot of success at the youth level in the past. It’s just that it doesn’t always translate to the senior levels. Hopefully this group will help change it.
I agree about Cabrera but I can remember some people not too long ago calling for his head after the u17s had a poor run of form. It’s funny how things work out.
I hope that FSC shows evening reruns sometime this week.
Indeed, how many of them are 100% American(not meant in an ethno-centrist way, rather in a ‘who do we have for sure who we don’t have to fend off from others for’ type of way)?
If that cross had been 5-6inches lower it could have been 4-1. Junior could have made 5-1. I hope he gets a wiki page after this. I remember that Zahavi’s page kept getting taken down by the Wiki’n bosses because being a great USA National team prospect did not meet their guideline for “notability.”
Flores definitely had some flair you don’t expect to see from US players. What a great game. Wesley Wade also looks like a nice prospect.
Lol +1
The cut in then cross to the near post to wade for the goal was divine
Also finally switching to the 10 month schedule bodes very well for the future of these kids…
Epic Fail. Who cares about the details when the US beats Brazil in anything soccer related.
i really like cabrera as coach. he’s had some great success since taking over and these kids play some nice ball. there’s some real depth to this bunch too- couldnt tell who was first choice over the course of the tourney since so many kept playing at a high level.
Flores was excellent- he could have made it 4-1 near the end just before he was subbed off. ran on to a great pass and megged the defender w/ a nice touch, but pushed his shot just wide. conor donovan the CB looks like a smart player too- never got rattled at all back there, but this definitely didn’t look like the most talented brazil group ever. look forward to seeing more from this bunch- especially flores and lema.
The final score on the screen was 2-1 when it should be 3-1. Another thing I noticed was the 3rd goal was scored at 43′ but the caption said 34′. The production crew gotta step up here.
Cap them!
There were many times in this game I forgot which team was Brazil. Individually? Impressive. But the interplay was the true eye opener.
More at the senior level, please.
I just got to see some of the France game, but I was impressed with the on-ball skills, creativity, and vision that a lot of the kids showed.
Hopefully they keep developing. It would be amazing if the United States could start producing technically and creatively proficient players en masse. Obviously a tall task, but the more soccer is on TV here, the more viable a career choice it is for young athletes. (That’s simplifying it, but I think it’s a good point.)
It was a game played at great speed, at least in the opening 20 minutes. That the US did so well against the immediate pressure bodes well for these guys. Flores and Rubin are not the biggest guys, but they can play.
Okay Junior Flores is incredibly good for that age.
?
How big of a fail was the final score at the end l0l
#5 for Brazil is a little young to be celebrating the birth of a child, no?