CARSON, Calif. – The U.S. U14 Boys National Team, made of players born in 1999, is currently in the midst of its final camp under the moniker of the youngest age group in the youth national team program.

Head coach Hugo Perez will be taking the group to the U15 BNT title in the coming months with the next camp. The title change is relatively meaningless, but there is some symbolism to the point that the former U.S. Men’s National Team great has now spent a year with this age group.

Wednesday’s scrimmages at the U.S. Soccer National Training Center were a fine example of what the coach has accomplished during that period.

The A team, or more accurately termed the group that has been with the coach the longest, dropped an 8-0 goose egg on Arsenal, a local Development Academy squad, in the night cap. The first game ended in a 2-0 win for Pateadores over the U14 BNT – a team that featured many of the new players with this age group.

U.S. U14 Boys National Team 8-0 Arsenal U16

Nicholas Taitague had two assists in the opening eight minutes – and it was his first time playing on the wing with this team. The normal No. 10 for the squad made his debut on the left wing, and looked like a natural.

Jonathan Gonzalez grabbed the opener when he headed home the cross from the FC Richmond Magic star after only three minutes. Jose Carranza doubled the lead six minutes later when he finished off a pass from Taitague as well.

Silky on the ball, explosive with this first step, Taitague made Wednesday a nightmare for the Arsenal defense. He added his first goal of the game after 19 minutes when he tucked away a pass from Lucas Del Rosario. The striker from CASL did the hard work – he stole the ball and then played it to Taitague at the top of the box. The finish was well placed to the corner.

Del Rosario got in on the action on his own when he made it 4-0 after hustling down another giveaway and slotting the shot into the net. Carranza capped a brilliant opening 24 minutes with a sublime curling effort from 25 yards out that delicately nestled inside the post and into the net.

With a 5-0 lead at half, the victory was pretty comfortably in the record book, but the U.S. drove on.

“I told them at half time, we cannot let down,” Perez said in reference to the last camp where Chivas USA U16 smoked the youth national team 7-1 behind a five-goal second half outburst. “We have to learn from that and continue to play – without disrespecting anybody.”

Arsenal had a couple of chances early in the second half, as the posts and goalkeeper David Abonce did enough to keep the shutout.

Del Rosario put any fear of a comeback to bed quickly with his second of the game. The attacker, who worked tirelessly to pressure the defense when the U.S. lost possession throughout the game, stole the ball and dribbled past two defenders before putting his shot into the back of the net.

Adolfo Trujillo finally joined the fun a couple of minutes later with the seventh goal of the evening. The Ballistic United forward made a dashing run past the Arsenal defense thanks to another sublime pass from Taitague. Trujillo chipped the sliding keeper for his lone goal of the game.

Taitague finished the onslaught with two minutes left following an absolutely delightful piece of skill by Del Rosario, who brought down a 30-yard pass while in full stride. Del Rosario fed Gonzalez who passed to the wide-open Taitague for the easiest goal of the night.

After the game, Perez also talked about the goal for this group – getting into the U17 MNT the mainly features players born in 1998 right now.

“They have to be motivated because the 17s are looking at these guys. For us, that is our goal to pass them onto the 17s. We have had three (Tyler Adams, Edwin Lara, and Taitague) who have been called already and went to Mexico. There might be more.”

U.S. U14 Boys National Team Starting XI:

Eric Lopez; Edwin Lara, Mckay Eves, Kyle Gruno, Antonio Navas; Jose Torres, Jose Carranza, Jonathan Gonzalez; Nicholas Taitague, Lucas Del Rosaio, Adolfo Trujillo 

Pateadores U16 2-0 U.S. U14 Boys National

Introducing players to the youth national team is usually a learning process with a steep curve. Wednesday’s scrimmage at the U.S. Soccer National Training Center was just one of the steps on that journey for the players of the U14 BNT.

Featuring a lineup of primarily new faces, the youth national team dropped a 2-0 result to local Academy side Pateadores.

“We have nine new players so we needed to see them,” Perez said. “Obviously, we have the second game [on Saturday] to make decisions on who is coming back and who is not. Also, regardless of winning or losing, we do not play kick ball and sometimes it is hard for new players.

“I was happy with them because they tried hard, and they tried to do what we asked them to do. Now, we have to evaluate and see how it goes on Saturday.”

U.S. started the game brightly with a corner kick in the opening three minutes. Pats mishandled the clearance with a stray arm and the referee awarded a penalty kick. The U.S. could not convert the golden chance, as the shot went wide of the target.

Pats took the initiative after the opening chance and pulled in front after ten minutes when the local squad caught the youth national team out on the break following a corner kick.

Pats nearly doubled the lead shortly before half when the U.S. goalkeeper was caught out of position and Pats forward tried to chip him. The effort skated harmlessly wide of the frame. 

Second half brought a renewed energy to the U.S. group, but Pats still had its way with the game and hit the post midway through the half.

The final tally came with 10 minutes left on the clock when a Pats forward fought off two defenders and smashed the ball into the upper corner of the net.

U.S. U14 Boys National Team Starting XI:

Carlos Avilez; Shaft Brewer, Calvin Aroh, Evan Godfrey, Jose Alfaro; Cody Sundquist, Roberto Hernandez, Eric Morales; Justin Rennicks, Zach Ryan, Jommar Reyes