U.S. U-15s Finish Third
The U.S. Under-15 Boys’ National Team defeated Paraguay 7-6 in penalty kicks to earn third place at the 2013 Copa Mexico de Naciones. Paraguay was up 3-2 for much of the second half during the 70-minute regulation until the USA’s Joshua Perez tied the score at 3-3 two minutes into second-half stoppage time.
The U.S. reached the semifinals with a 1-0 win over Costa Rica on a Joe Gallardo, Jr., goal. In the semifinals the U.S. lost to Uruguay 2-0. The U.S. had beaten Uruguay 3-1 earlier in the tournament behind a pair of goals from Gallardo and a single score from Haji Wright. The other U.S. win was a 4-0 shutout of Panama.
The U.S. opened the tournament with a 1-0 loss to Brazil.
International Cup
The U.S. Paralympic Team came back three times to tie against the Netherlands, but couldn’t hold on in overtime as the team fell 6-4 in the 2013 Intercontinental Cup in Barcelona, Spain.
Peter Koollj opened the scoring for the Netherlands in the eighth minute and the U.S. responded with a goal from Josh McKinney on a Tyler Bennett assist in the 20th minute. Lars Conjin from the Netherlands scored twice, in the 34th and 42nd minutes before the U.S. once again tied it up via Rene Renteria and Marthell Vazquez. Koollj again scored in the 56th minute and Chris Ahrens evened it out in the 58th minute, sending the game into overtime. The U.S. came up empty in extra time while the Netherlands scored one goal in each overtime period for the final 6-4 scoreline.
The U.S. posted wins over Portugal and Australia in the tournament.
USA Beach Soccer
The U.S. Beach Soccer National Team wrapped up the Copa Salvador del Mundo with two games against beach soccer club teams and two international matches against host El Salvador.The U.S. kicked off the trip with a 6-4 victory against La Barra de Santiago on Aug. 1, with one goal each from Nick Perera, Jason Leopoldo, Alessandro Canale and Francis Farberoff, and two goals from Michael Enfield.
Two days later, the U.S. defeated San Isidro 10-2 with two goals each from Farberoff, Ryan Futagaki, Adriano Lima and Canale, and one each from Shay Spitz and Andrew Feld.
After the first two matches, the local fans came out in full force to support the host El Salvador with back-to-back matches in front of a sold-out crowd. In the first game, on Aug. 4, the U.S. fell 7-4. The following day, the U.S. fell once again to El Salvador under similarly hostile conditions, this time 4-2, with both goals scored by Perera, who led the team with four goals in the tournament.
Two New U.S. Players
When John Anthony Brooks started the game against Bosnia-Herzegovina, and when Aron Johannsson entered the game as a second-half sub, the U.S. locked in two players to the U.S. Men’s National Team who previously have played for other countries.
Brooks, who was born in Germany, is the latest German-American to switch to the U.S. under coach Jurgen Klinsmann. A strong center back who plays in the German Bundesliga, he previously played for younger German national teams.
Johannsson was born in the U.S. His parents are Iceland natives and were studying in the U.S. at the time of his birth. He turned down a spot on Iceland’s national team for a chance to play for the U.S. A forward, he plays professionally in Holland.
When asked about their decisions, Brooks said it “wasn’t a difficult decision to make,” while Johannsson called it a “difficult decision.”