USA defeats 2020 Olympic host Japan 2-0 in under-23 men's friendly
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Sep 11, 2019
Brenden Aaronson set up Mason Toye just before halftime, and Brooks Lennon added a second goal from the penalty spot after Sebastian Soto was taken down in the penalty area.
Six players from the 2019 U-20 World Cup team saw action: Chris Gloster, Mark McKenzie and Alex Mendez, who started against Japan, and Edwin Cerrillo, Brandon Servania and Soto, who came on in the second half.
Mendez had best chance until Toye scored, unleashing a 25-yard, left-footed shot that forced a diving save from Japan goalkeeper Ryosuke Kojima, one of four players who went to the Copa America in Brazil.
Eight other players eligible for the 2020 Olympics as under-23 players were with the senior national for the matches against Mexico and Uruguay.
Reggie Cannon, Sergino Dest, Miles Robinson, Jackson Yueill and Josh Sargent played in both games. Weston McKennie and Christian Pulisic started against Mexico and then returned to their clubs in Europe. Paxton Pomykal was a late sub against Uruguay.
Concacaf qualifying for the 2020 Olympics will take place next March in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Sept. 9 in Chula Vista, Calif.
USA 2 Japan 0. Goals: Toye 45, Lennon pen. 63.
USA -- Freese (Marcinkowski, 46), Herrera (Duncan, 46), Glad (Trusty, 46), McKenzie (Pines, 61), Gloster, Dotson (Cerrillo, 46), Mendez (Vazquez, 72), Mihailovic (Servania, 61), Aaronson (Lennon, 46), Saucedo (Fernandez, 66), Toye (Soto, 46).
Japan -- Kojima; Suga (Sugioka, 83), Mastumoto (Tanaka, 46), Maeda (Watanabe, 72), Ominami (Naganuma, 72), Okazaki (Tatsuta, 61), Ogawa (Ueda, 61), Endo (Abe, 61), Ko (Saito, 83), Hashioka, Seko.
