By RYAN TOLMICH
The U.S. Under-17 Men’s National Team was forced to settle for a loss in its first game of the Vaclav Jezek Tournament.
Pushed back by three second-half goals, the U.S. fell, 4-2, to Russia on Tuesday in Vysokie Myto, Czech Republic. The Americans fought back from a goal down to take a lead before halftime, but the second stanza proved to be their undoing.
Up 2-1 at halftime, the U.S. fell behind for good after Russia’s Alexandr Lomovitskiy scored the last goals in his hat-trick performance with strikes in the 63rd and 68th minutes. A goal from Boris Tsygankov followed in the 82nd, dooming the Americans to a loss in a physical contest that yielded five yellow cards.
Richie Williams’ side had initially fallen behind in the match after Lomovitskiy buried a penalty in the 13th minute, but responded quickly with goals from Joshua Perez and Hugo Arrellano within a 10-minute span.
Perez’s effort came via a penalty kick finish in the 17th minute, while Arrellano, an LA Galaxy product, followed up his teammate’s goal with one his own in the 27th to give the U.S. a lead it could not hold onto.
U.S. U-17s’ starting lineup: Will Pulisic; John Nelson, Daniel Barbir, Hugo Arellano (c), Alexis Velela; Tyler Adams, Luca de la Torre, Christian Pulisic; Pierre Da Silva, Brandon Vazquez (Joe Gallardo, 73), Josh Perez (Haji Wright, 73).
Unused substitutes: Kevin Silva, Reginald Cannon, Tanner Dieterich, Auston Trusty, Tommy McCabe, Eric Calvillo, Alejandro Zendejas.
The U.S. U-17s will return to action Wednesday for a match-up with Slovenia before taking on Slovakia on Friday.
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