LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA – Manny Schellscheidt’s U14 Boys National Team opened play with a pair of matches here at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Friday night at the U.S. Youth Soccer ODP Interregional.

The two teams in the squad will be playing regional counterparts from their 1996 age group. The ODP regions this year feature two teams each, with one for players born January through June, and another for players born July through December. The concept is designed to combat a real or perceived bias toward older  and likely more physically mature players in regional tryout selections. The U14 BNT squads will only play the older age group regional teams, but there is a whole slate of games here for the regional teams (95s and 96s) to play each other on the weekend.

We will have more details on games from Saturday and Sunday, but here is a brief look at Friday’s results.

Region III 96 (Olders) 2, U14 BNT Navy 1

DeAndre Robinson, a faster winger from Lawrenceville, Georgia, scored in the opening minute to put the southeasterners on track for a win. Californians Oscar Martinez and Corey Baird combined for a 2nd half U.S. equalizer, as Baird ran with the ball and slotted a nice pass for Martinez, who finished with accuracy to make it 1-1.

Region III got a winner from Florida’s Arthur Paterson in the 2nd half to take the win. Florida keeper Nicholas Zedan put forth some good saves to preserve the win. Region III also got good play from Dallas Texans’ midfielder Ivan Alvarado, who is very good on the ball.

For the U.S., Emerson Hyndman was dangerous in the middle, running well with the ball and making a lot of dangerous short passes. Arsenal FC’s Joab Santoyo delivers the ball well, while fullback Wilfred Williams showed good skill, positioning and toughness in the back.
 
Region III 96 Lineup
GK: Nicolas Zedan
D: David Mejia, Omar Castro, Andrew Raad, Jack Gayton
M: Reginald Epps, Dakota Brinkman, Ivan Alvarado, Lawrence Taiwo
F: Dembakwi Yomba, De Andrew Robinson
Subs: Jefferson Caldwell, Reinaldo Cevallos, Jeremy Colvin, Shareef El-Saadi, Evan Enders, Eithan Levy, Arthur Paterson

U14 BNT Navy Lineup
GK: Andrew Ferber
D: Elijah Martin, Esteban Reyes, Patrick Khouri, Wildred Williams
M: Arturo Paz, Joab Santayo, John Requejo, Emerson Hyndman
F: Adonis Amaya, Oscar Martinez
Subs: Marius Heislitz, Fisher Gallinger, Vernon Bailey, Corey Baird, Rubio Ruben, Rolando Velasquez, Ricardo Ruiz

U14 BNT Red 2, Region I 96 (Olders) 0

This U.S. team got goals from Virginia players James Ellis and Jorge Calix in the 1st half, then rode shutout work in goal from Andrew Epstein and Gianni Carillo.

U14 BNT Red Lineup
GK: Andrew Epstein
D: Jeff Rhodes, Bill Stevens, Bruno Scolari, Matthew Nance
M: Michael Clemmons, Samuel Brown, Declan McCabe, Brandon Tetro
F: James Ellis, Jorge Calix
Subs: Gianni Carillo, Carter Manley, Eric Holt, Noah Snyder, Toby Khounviseth, Austin Stamey, Allan Winn

Region I 96 Lineup
GK: Brendan Burke
D: Stephen Margaria, Harrison Roche, Theodore Miller, Doluwmu Oyewole
M: Imad Mojaddidi, Anthony Viteri, Jake Rozhansky, Chase Gasper
F: Guyllain Kabala, Akeem Ward
Subs: Miles Davis, Aleksandar Gogic, Kevin Herrera, Sebastian Joly, Rico Lizbinski, Luka Martinovic, Joseph Swanson