U.S. U-16 boys beat Brazil

• by Mike Woitalla  @MikeWoitalla, Apr 27, 2016

The U.S. U-16 boys national team, after opening the 13th Tournament Delle Nazioni with a 2-1 loss to Croatia and a 2-2 tie with Slovenia, beat Brazil, 2-1, on goals by Konrad de la Fuente and Marcelo Palomino  on Wednesday.

Barcelona-based de la Fuente opened the scoring in the 38th minute and Palomino (Houston Dynamo) scored the gamewinner two minutes after Brazil's 59th minute equalizer via a Eduardo Blancas' own goal.

After falling behind to an eighth minute goal against Slovenia, Arriaga and Rivas (Weston FC) shot the USA ahead before Slovenia equalized with 10 minutes left in the 70-minute game. Against Croatia, the USA went down, 2-1, before Leonardo Sepulveda was ejected, forcing Coach Shaun Tsakiris' team to play a man down the entire second half.

Croatia's head-to-head result over the USA earned Croatia second place in Group C over third-place USA, which awaits Thursday's Group B results to learn its opponent in the knockout stage that will determine 5th through 8th place of the 12-team tournament. Slovenia, which is co-hosting the tournament with Italy, finished first in Group C. Brazil, which tied Croatia, 2-2, and fell to Slovenia, 2-1, finished fourth with one point.

April 27 in Nova Gorica, Slovenia
USA 2 Brazil 1. Goals: de la Fuente 38, Palomino 61; own goal 59.
USA starters -- Defreitas-Hansen, Hansen, Blancas, Pellegrino, De Almeida (Hilton, 47), Booth, Hategan (de la Fuente, 36), Morel, Mendonca (Rivas, 36), Vassilev, Segal (Palomino, 54).
Brazil starters -- Emerson Weber, Joao Vitor, Caique Rodrigues, Victor Santos, Lucas Lourenco, Rian Lopes, Angelo Chaves, Tiago Figureiredo, Matheus Souza, Rodrygo Goes, Vinicius Silva.

April 26 in Bilje, Slovenia
Slovenia 2 USA 2. Goals: Nikolovski 8, Maher 60; Arriaga (Palomino) 15, Rivas (Arriaga) 23.
Slovenia -- Gril; Nikolovski, Ocko, Makovec, Burin; Prelec (Ceh, 36; Marc, 65), Simic, Svetlin, Mutavcic; Zizek (Maher, 52), Urbancic
USA -- Rando; Hansen, Sepulveda, Serpa, Blancas; Hilton, Arriaga (Pellegrino, 36), Booth (Llanez, 65), Palomino (Segal, 52), Rivas (De Almeida, 36); De la Fuente, Vassilev.

April 25 in Vipolze, Slovenia
USA 1 Croatia 2. Goals: Llanez (Palomino) 16; Brnic 19, Kukovec 24.
USA -- Defreitas-Hansen; Hansen, Sepulveda, Pellegrino (Blancas, 49), Hilton; Arriaga, Booth, Palomino, Llanez (Rivas, 49); Segal (De la Fuente, 56),  Vassilev (Mendonca, 56).
Croatia -- Josipovic; Mihanovic, Milinovic, Vuskovic, Fruk, (Nikl, 46); Svrznjak, Krizmanic, Jancic (Dakovic, 60); Vujcic, Brnic (Tadic, 46).
Red Card -- Sepulveda (USA) 32.

USA Delle Nazioni Roster

U.S. U-16 girls beat Iran, 6-0, in historic game

In the first game between a U.S. women’s national team at any level against a Middle East nation, the U.S. U-16 girls national team beat Iran, 6-0, at the 1st International Women’s Tournament of Gradisca in Italy.

“It was a really cool experience to be able to play a team that the U.S. has never played before and it’s a game that none of us will ever forget,” said U.S. captain Sierra Enge, who captained the USA in the match. “It was an incredible way to see how soccer can bring people and countries together. It also showed how soccer can help with the empowering of women across the world and we were humbled to be a part of that.”

Photo courtesy U.S. Soccer

Summer Yates scored a hat trick while Emaly Vatne, Olivia Wingate and Rebecca Jarrett provided the rest of the goals against Iran.

Coach Tricia Taliaferro’s team opened the tournament with a 1-0 loss to host Italy.

April 26 in Monfalcone, Italy
USA 6 Iran 0. Goals: Vatne (Yates) 18 Yates (Nighswonger) 23, Yates (Verguru) 40, Yates (Wingate) 50, Wingate (Godfrey) 57 Jarrett (Wingate) 73+.
USA -- Meyer; Minamishin, Bell (Desiano, 35), Enge, Martinez (Morris, 51); Nighswonger (Dyke, 35) Vergura (Piper, 51), Yates, Godfrey, Vatne (Jarrett, 35), Mendoza (Wingate, 35).
Iran -- Mazidi; Noorizadehigder, Kouhi (Laleh, 45), Varnosfaderani, Motevallitaher; Rahmani, Rezapourlori (Alizadehkaryak, 30), Amiri, Fatemeh Hosseini; Mohammadi, Geraelisheikh.

April 25 in Gradisca, Italy
Italy 1 USA 0. Goal: Benedetti 5.
Italy -- Forcinella; Costantino, Nischler, Orsi (Baldi, 56), Bardin; Benedetti, Ndiongue, Coda (Sclavo, 65), Crespi (Visentin, 65); Puglisi (Cafferata, 70), Tomaselli (Nichele, 57).
USA -- Hancuff; Bell, Bell, Enge, Martinez; Bethune (Wingate, 63), Nighswonger (Piper, 55), Dyke, Godfrey; Yates (Vatne, 55), Mendoza.

U.S. U-18 boys down Xolos at Chula Vista camp

The U.S. U-18 men's national team squad, in midst of a 23-player April 23-30 camp at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California, beat U-20/18 Tijuana Xolos, 2-1, on goals by Nick Taitague, from the penalty spot, and Brandon Servania, who struck with three minutes left.

The U.S. U-18s, coached by Omid Namazi, face the San Diego Nomads on April 29. They travel to Guadalajara, Mexico, May 28-June 8, for three games.

April 26 in Chula Vista, Calif.
USA 2 Tijuana 1. Goals:  Taitague (pen.) 53, Servania (Brewer) 87; Gamiz 61.
USA -- Scott; Aguilera (Paoli, 53), Carranza (Servania, 62), Dorsey (Tomozawa, 78), Pomykal (Fontana, 78); Rennicks, Stanley (Real, 53), Taitague ( Brewer, 62); Uribe, Vom Steeg, Zarris (Salas, 78).
Tijuana -- Zendejas (Higuera, 46); Gomez (Rodriguez, 46), Bermudez (Gonzalez, 46), Enriquez (Chavez, 46), Monticelli (Esparza, 46); Jimenez (Perez, 46), 285-Rodriguez (Topete, 46), Carmona (Sandoval, 46), Barajas (Gamiz, 46); Tanko (Lopez, 46), Landazuri (Nunez, 46)

U.S. U-18 men's national team
GOALKEEPERS (2): Andrew Morrison (Texans SC Houston; Kingwood, Texas), Brady Scott (De Anza Force Academy; Petaluma, Calif.).
DEFENDERS (7): Kyle Gruno (Leicester City; Leicester, England), Bailey Heller (Real Colorado; Highlands Ranch, Colo.), Matthew Real (Philadelphia Union; Drexel Hill, Pa.), Mark Salas (FC Dallas; Dallas, Texas), Aedan Stanley (St. Louis Scott Gallagher Missouri Academy; Columbia, Ill.), Angel Uribe (Club Tijuana; Tijuana, Mexico), Carson Vom Steeg (Real So Cal; Santa Barbara, Calif.).
MIDFIELDERS (7): Raul Aguilera Jr. (Orlando City SC Acadmey; Sanford, Fla.), Jose Carranza (DC United; Manassas, Va.), Anthony Fontana (Philadelphia Union; Newark, Del.), Andrew Paoli (San Jose Earthquakes; San Jose, Calif.), Paxton Pomykal (FC Dallas; Highland Village, Texas), Brandon Servania (FC Dallas; Dallas, Texas), Nicholas Taitague (Carolina RailHawks FC; Midlothian, Va.).
FORWARDS (7): Shaft Brewer Jr. (Sacramento Republic FC; Sacramento, Calif.), Griffin Dorsey (Colorado Rush; Evergreen, Colo.), Landen Haig (Orlando City SC Academy; Melbourne Beach, Fla.), Thomas Katsiyiannis (Minnesota Thunder; Eden Prairie, Minn.), Justin Rennicks (New England Revolution Academy; Hamilton, Mass.), Kei Tomozawa (Seattle Sounders; Bellevue, Wash.), Aristotle Zarris (Real Salt Lake AZ; Casa Grande, Ariz.).

U.S. U-19 men to face Russia in Slovakia Cup final

The U.S. U-19 men's national team, coached by Brad Friedel, clinched a spot in the 2016 Slovakia Cup final by opening Group B play with wins over Georgia (5-1) and Ukraine (2-1). Weston McKinnie  of FC Dallas' academy scored in both games.

The USA wraps up group play against host Slovakia Thursday before facing Russia in Friday's final.

Photo courtesy U.S. Soccer

April 26 in Senec, Slovakia
USA 2 Ukraine 1. Goals: McKennie (Young) 27, own goal 33; Yarmolenko 39.
USA -- Pulisic; Velela (Fossey, 40), Montalvo, Barbir, Arellano; McKennie, Egiluz (Da Silva, 40); De La Torre, Hunsinger (Espinoza, 61), Young (Agu, 76); Vazquez (Gallardo, 80+2)
Ukraine -- Bilyk; Bondar (Antoniuk, 76), Hudz, Matvieienko, Velychenko; Sereda (Zavinskyi, 62), Shkinder, Yarmolenko (Cheberko, 40), Lunov (Mukha, 62); Ivanochko (Kozhushko, 40), Liedniev.

April 25 in Trnava, Slovakia
USA 5 Georgia 1. Goals: Barbir (Vazquez) 10, Hunsinger (Da Silva) 23, Vazquez (pen.) 38, McKennie (Arellano) 45, Espinoza 74; Chogadze (pen.) 50.
USA -- Hale; Fossey, Montalvo (Kibunguchy, 51), Barbir, Arellano; De La Torre (Calvillo, 40) (Des Pres, 64), McKennie; Da Silva (Young, 59), Hunsinger (Gallardo, 40), Espinoza; Vazquez (Agu, 40).
Georgia -- Chochishvili; Mali, Bulukhadze, Lockoshvili, Lakhvekheliani (Kobouri, 40); Kutsia (Kochorashvili, 64), Pochkhua (Megreladze, 40); Chogadze,  Sagrishvili (Molashvili, 74), Chakvetadze (Megreladze, 63); Kavtaradze.