The U.S. U17 Men’s National Team played to a 2-2 draw against Flamengo U18 (Brazil) in the opening game from the 2017 Montverde Academy Soccer Tournament (MAST) in Florida on Tuesday. This is the first year that the MAST event has also included an international bracket.  For the U.S. Youth National Team, the tournament is the first event of the calendar year. 

The Youth National Team is preparing for 2017 U17 CONCACAF Championship in April in Panama. On Tuesday, the USA squad was missing a few of the headliners from this age group as Andrew Carlton (Atlanta United), Chris Goslin (Atlanta United), and Chris Durkin (D.C. United) have all signed professional deals and are not part of the Spring Residency or the tournament in Florida this week. 

However, the absence of the trio opened up spots in the starting lineup for some new faces who are looking to make their mark in 2017. Charlie Asensio, James Sands, and Isaac Angking were in the spotlight on Tuesday as they tried to fill in for the missing pieces. Asensio held down the defensive midfield spot. James Sands was the anchor at right center back. Isaac Angking was deployed as the left winger. 

The USA trailed 0-2 at halftime with Flamengo exploiting the back four with some crisp passing on the opening goal in the 24th minute. However, USA responded in the second half in tremendous fashion and earned a 2-2 draw on the day. 

USA is back in action on Thursday at 3:30 against Feyenoord. All games from the MAST international bracket can be viewed live on TopDrawerSoccer. 

USA U17 Starting XI: Justin Garces; Christopher Gloster, AJ Vasquez, James Sands, Jaylin Lindsey; Carlos ‘Charlie’ Asensio, Blaine Ferri, George Acosta; Isaac Angking, Josh Sargent, Ayo Akindola 

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