U.S. U15 BNT drops tournament opener
The U.S. U15 Boys National Team opened the Copa Mexico de Naciones youth tournament with a 1-0 loss to Brazil on Saturday.
The U.S. conceded the goal in the final moments of the game when a sliding effort by right back Matthew Olosunde directed a cross into the back of the net. Olosunde was blocking the cross from getting to an attacker who likely would have finished into the open net.
The U.S. had some opportunities earlier in the game to get on the score board with the best one coming midway through the first half when Joshua Perez sliced past the Brazil defense and fed Christian Pulisic eight yards from goal at the near post. The ball was just in front of Pulisic and his sliding shot did not have enough finesse or power on it to elude the Brazilian goalkeeper.
The U.S. called on goalkeeper Kevin Silva a couple of times in the opening half to come off his line. Silva was up for the challenge on nearly every occasion – except for one when a Brazilian forward skated past him in the latter stages of the opening 35 minutes. A retreating Olosunde made a sliding challenge to block the shot and keep the teams on level terms at the break.
The five-time World Cup winners dominated the play in the second half, and limited the U.S. going forward. Brazil nearly had the opener with ten minutes left in the game, but the shot rocketed off the post.
The Brazilians took the lead six minutes later, and nabbed all three points from the group opener. In the other group game, Uruguay beat Panama 4-1. The U.S. takes on Panama on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. (ET) before concluding pool play on Monday with a game against the other South American side.
U.S. U15 Boys National Team XI:
Kevin Silva; Matthew Olosunde, Alexis Velela (Tyler Adams 65’), Daniel Barbir, Edwin Lara (Hugo Arellano 62’); Eric Calvillo, Alejandro Vendejas (Logan Panchot 62’), Christian Pulisic; Joe Gallardo, Haji Wright, Joshua Perez
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