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Wilmer Cabrera earned his first win as head coach of the U-17 MNT.
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BRADENTON, Fla. (Dec. 6, 2007) – The U.S. Under-17 ‘92s won their first international game under new head coach Wilmer Cabrera, beating Russia, 2-0, on Thursday afternoon at the Development Academy Nike Friendlies in Bradenton, Fla.
The U.S. will next face Brazil on Saturday, Dec. 8 at 2:30 p.m. ET in their second match of the Friendlies. The match will be televised live on Fox Soccer Channel.
In front of a pro-American crowd, the U.S. dominated the first half of play, and in the 16th minute, Carlos Martinez put the U.S. in the lead. The Las Vegas native received the ball from Stefan Jerome on the left wing, cut the ball back to his right foot and cracked a 22-yard rocket that went over the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Stanislav Plokhikh and took a wicked dip to fall just under the crossbar.
The U.S. doubled their lead early in the second half when Jerome buried a tremendous effort from outside the area in the 47th minute. Collecting the ball from Marlon Duran on the left wing, Jerome took a few touches to lose his defender near the corner of the penalty area and ripped a shot with his right foot into the upper right corner.
“Getting the goals in the first half and early in the second half was good for us and it gave us a lot of confidence,” said head coach Wilmer Cabrera. “This game was a good first step.”
The United States’ first chance came from Jaime Gutierrez early on, as his close-range shot forced a diving save. In the 30th minute, Martinez looked to match his earlier goal with a strike from the outside, but this time the ball sailed just high.
In the 40th minute, Jerome made a long run down his right side and cut up the endline. He got past the last defender and beat the goalkeeper with a slick move, but a sliding Russian defender cleared his shot off the line. Then, just before halftime, Charles Renken turned and fired a shot from 30-yard away that was tipped by Plokhikh just enough to bang off the crossbar.
After the U.S. goal in the second half, Russia began to pick up their pressure. In the 60th minute, Oleg Shalaev ran onto a through ball and was in alone on U.S. goalkeeper Earl Edward. Edwards used all 6 feet 3 inches to give Shalaev virtually no net to shoot at and got both hands behind the ball to make the save.
“We needed to get to know them outside of the practice field, and this was a good start,” said Cabrera. “This kind of game will show us areas in which we must work more effectively and improve.”
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- U.S. Under-17 Men’s National Team Game Report –
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Participants: U.S. Under-17 ‘92s vs. Russia
Competition: Development Academy Nike Friendlies, Under-17/18 Competition
Location: IMG Academy; Bradenton, Fla.
Date: December 6, 2007
Weather: Warm, 80 degrees
Scoring Summary:
1 2 F
USA 1 1 2
RUS 0 0 0
USA – Carlos Martinez (Stefan Jerome) 16th minute
USA – Stefan Jerome (Marlon Duran) 47.
Lineups:
USA: 1-Earl Edwards; 4-Emilio Orozco, 6-Jared Watts - capt. (17-Andrew Craven, 81), 2-Perry Kitchen, 3-Tyler Polak (16-Estanilao Arevalo, 46); 5-Marlon Duran, 10-Charles Renken (19-Jack McInerney, 64), 11-Carlos Martinez, 13-Joseph Gyau; 7-Jaime Gutierrez (8-Edson Lemus, 46), 9-Stefan Jerome (12-Andrew Craven, 80),
Subs Not Used:
RUS: 1-Stanislav Plokhikh; 2-Roman Eremeev (17-Igor Kireev, 46), 3-Timur Baytimirov (12-Danil Lyamin, 83), 4-Konstantin Ryhabov, 5-Alexey Kinitin; 6-Victor Kuzminchev, 7-Roman Emelyanov (15-Aleksander Bortnik, 58), 8-Dimitry Kinitinsky (16-Anton Khodyrev, 16), 9-Georgy Nurov (13-Irakliy Chezhiya, 65); 10-Nikolay Ivannikov (14-Emin Makhumudov, 62), 11-Oleg Shalaev (18-Alexander Vasiliev, 32)
Statistical Summary:
USA RUS
Shots 15 / 7
Shots on Goal 9 / 2
Saves 3 / 4
Corner Kicks 6 / 1
Fouls 11 / 7
Offsides 1 / 0
Misconduct Summary: None
Officials:
Referee: Alex Mariscan
1st Assistant: Jason Cullum
2nd Assistant: Jeff Muschik
4th Official: Niko Bratsis
Sierra Mist Man of the Match: Carlos Martinez
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