Photo by ISIPhotos.com
By DAN KARELL
The Under-20 U.S. Men’s National Team kicked off their Argentina training camp on a positive note.
First-half goals from Zach Pfeffer and Romain Gall led the U-20s to a 2-0 victory over Racing Club reserves in a friendly match on Thursday morning.
According to U.S. Soccer’s match report, Pfeffer won a penalty kick when a Racing defender handled a cross into the box, and the Philadelphia Union Homegrown product finished from the spot in the 11th minute. Club Tijuana forward Paul Arriola played a through ball in the 27th minute to Gall, a member of the Columbus Crew, and Gall powered forward to score the second goal.
U.S. goalkeeper Santiago Castaño earned the clean sheet in goal, needing to make only one save.
Up next for the U-20s is a friendly match against Defensa y Justicia Reserves on Saturday, before facing the Argentina U-20s on Tuesday.
Here’s a look at the U-20s lineup against Racing Club:
USA: 1-Santiago Castaño; 3-John Requejo Jr. (18-Chase Gasper, 46), 5-Erik Palmer-Brown (19-Conor Donovan, 62), 4-Matt Miazga, 2-Shaquell Moore (16-Luis Martir, 46); 6-Russell Canouse, 8-Fernando Arce (14-Junior Flores, 46), 10-Joel Soñora (15-Luis Felipe, 67); 11-Zach Pfeffer, 9-Romain Gall, 7-Paul Arriola (13-Bradford Jamieson, 46)
Subs Not Used: 22-Jeff Caldwell
Head Coach: Tab Ramos
——-
What do you think of this result? Glad to see Gall and Pfeffer score again? How many of these players do you expect to see making the CONCACAF U-20 qualifying roster?
Share your thoughts below.
Are the youth national teams playing a lot more international matches?
Splunge!
Couple of questions I’m hoping some one can answer: 1. Anyone know John Requejo Jr. ancestory?
Is he of Mexican descent? Everytime I read his name fast, I get gitty thinking it says Juan Riquelme Jr.
2. I see Junior Flores was a used sub, but do we know how he’s progressing at Dortmund.
Thanks
I’ve seen him make the bench of BVB II on a number of occasions, but he hasn’t gotten playing time yet.
Flores has been tearing it up for the Dormund U19 team and trained with the first team in the preseason.
I heard him and Gyau were playing together. Is he featuring for the u-23’s now?
like Vic said, he’s doing well. although i wasn’t aware he trained with the first team. i know he is beasting it up for the U-19s and is training/making the roster for BVB II on occasion.
Gitty?
Have to say, results are much better for are youth teams from years ago. Are our youth players the same level as top tier teams around the world? Possibly, only time will tell.
Certainly better to win than lose.
perhaps but I always got the sense that results at the youth national team level weren’t really a barometer for much of anything . Despite that, and despite the fact that the vast majority of these players won’t be regulars on the senior national team, it’s still great that in this day and age we can follow these guys quite closely.
Sadly, youth games mean nothing. Just ask the Africans…
Didn’t know Racing Club decided to wear same colors as Australia… : – )
heh heh
I was at that game. Australia looked pretty good. Gall was frustrating that night.