The USA lost their opening match in the Chile U-17 World Cup, 2-0 to Nigeria, thanks to second-half goals from Chukwudi Agor and Victor Osimhen. The USA simply looked outclassed for the majority of the match and when Auston Trusty was ejected late for stomping on Osimhen, it completed a miserable day for the Yanks.
Unable to break the pressure brought by the defending champions, the Americans looked quite a cut below the average, particularly in the back. Agor’s goal came off a dreadful defensive error â as it happens, from Trusty. Trusty shanked a clearance in the box into traffic, and John Nelson was unable to sweep it away on the second attempt. Agor simply ran onto it and blew the ball past William Pulisic in the net. Osimhen, Nigeria’s leading scorer in qualifying, exploited the centerbacks again to put the game to bed on the hour, simply heading the ball past Trusty and Hugo Arrelano to fire home cleanly.
The young Americans’ odds in this tournament were always long. Despite fielding a largely professional squad, the USA had missed out on the last edition of this biennial tournament, and only barely squeaked back into this one. Richie Williams’ squad survived a six-round penalty shootout in March against Jamaica just to get into Chile, and were rewarded with a tough draw into what is arguably the tournament’s group of death. The Americans also have not won a knockout game in the U-17 World Cup since 1999 and alongside the defending champions, the USA will have to face the hosts and a tricky Croatia side.
On the evidence of today’s game, the Americans will unfortunately continue what has been a bad run for the program overall. US Soccer is already reeling from shambolic losses to Mexico and Costa Rica by the full national team, and the Olympic side is not favored in their one game playoff against Colombia to get to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Many of the failings those teams showed â a lack of tactical and technical acumen, an inability to play at pace â were also on display here, indicating perhaps that the youth pipeline is quite dry.
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POSITIVE NIGERIA 