ASN: Cannon, Llanez, & Ferreira assist carry USMNT previous Costa Rica 1-0

Sure it was a low-scoring sport, however this January camp felt extra productive and refreshing than the “preseason” nature of earlier editions. It wasn’t good, nevertheless it felt helpful in serving to construct the participant pool for the busy yr forward. ASN’s Brian Sciaretta chimes in

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Brian Sciaretta

Posted
February 01, 2020
6:55 PM

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THE UNITED STATES defeated Costa Rica 1-0 on Saturday afternoon to open a really busy and essential 2020 marketing campaign. Whereas the sport was low scoring, it was a reasonably entertaining sport the place supervisor Gregg Berhalter rolled out a really youthful beginning lineup that featured many youthful however promising gamers who’re new to the sport.

In whole, seven gamers earned their first U.S. nationwide group cap on the day – together with 4 within the beginning lineup. The veteran presence consisted of captain Aaron Lengthy, Walker Zimmerman, Paul Arriola, and Sebastian Lletget.

The U.S. group performed nicely from the beginning and newcomers Jesus Ferreira and Ulysses Llanez supplied a spark to the offense. The group, nonetheless, did not convert a lot of its alternatives. Paul Arriola was denied by Costa Rican keeper Esteban Alvarado within the first half and Brendan Aaronson missed a shot simply vast.

Costa Rica practically scored towards the run of play within the twentieth minute when captain Giancarlo Gonzáles had an open header from shut vary however hit it off the crossbar.

Within the fiftieth minute, the U.S. group lastly broke via. On the play, Paul Arriola performed Reggie Cannon right into a harmful place within the field and Cannon was introduced down with an apparent foul. On the following penalty, Llanez elected to take it and despatched it to the low left nook whereas Alvarado guessed the fallacious route.

For the remaining 40 minutes, the U.S. group usually had the higher possibilities and the higher edge in possession. However with the wave of substitutions, the sport turned a bit disjointed. Gyasi Zardes appeared to provide the U.S. group a 2-0 lead within the 87th minute with a header from a Lletget cross, however he was accurately dominated offside.

Regardless of the low-scoring nature, the sport was productive in that a number of younger gamers got a good likelihood to make their case. In fact, ending wasn’t nice and the face that most of the gamers are in preseason type attributed to that. But when this camp was about increasing the participant pool and having younger gamers “stake their claim,” this sport pointing to January camp being profitable.

Listed here are a number of ideas on the sport

Olympic qualifying will likely be this camp’s legacy
In whole, 9 gamers who appeared on this sport for the U.S. group had been eligible for the U.S. U-23 group. The U.S. group hasn’t certified for the Olympics since 2008 and it’s precedence to get the group to Tokyo – regardless of the actual fact most of the prime age-eligible gamers gained’t play in March’s qualifying match.

Olympic qualifying is hard. Solely two groups make it from CONCACAF (in contrast with 4 groups for the U-20 and U-17 World Cups or three/4 for the senior World Cup) and sometimes it comes right down to a must-win semifinal sport.

Most of the gamers who had been in motion on Saturday towards Costa Rica will comprise of the core for Jason Kreis and his Olympic qualifying group. One of many the explanation why this camp was so younger is that it was geared in the direction of getting ready for Olympic qualifying (and it’s why there was no set U-23 camp this month).

If the U.S. group qualifies for Tokyo and these gamers are the core, this camp will likely be considered as a hit. If not, questions will linger as they did the earlier two cycles. However at this level, the group appears to be in a reasonably good place.

Ferreira and Llanez present nicely
The debuts of Llanez and Ferreira had been two of essentially the most thrilling tales of the sport. Each gamers had been a part of a number of scoring possibilities. For Llanez, his penalty conversion solely informed a part of the story. He was very energetic on the left facet and Sam Vines at left again did nicely to play in into harmful positions.

For Ferreira, this debut was a long-time coming. The U.S. U-23 and U-20 groups have all known as him up previous to him getting his citizenship. For FC Dallas, he appeared very robust at instances final season when he surpassed 2000 minutes earlier than his 18th birthday.

Between these two, there was quite a lot of aggressiveness and creativity on the sector. It was a glimpse of how the U.S. group might appear to be sooner or later though each will most likely deal with the U-23 group within the coming months (Llanez is definitely eligible for the 2021 U-20 group and the 2024 U-23 group whereas Ferreira misses the cutoff date by each of these groups by per week).

Cannon’s well-rounded outing
Final yr, Reggie Cannon made quite a lot of strides for membership and nation. He anchored an FC Dallas backline and was given increasingly accountability from Gregg Berhalter with the U.S. group. Coming into 2020, it was solely truthful that the bar be raised for Cannon and the expectations improve.

With the Costa Rica, Cannon is off to a powerful begin and the Texan was most likely the very best participant on the sector over the course of 90 minutes. Not solely did he draw the decisive penalty, however he was efficient along with his runs and passes. Defensively, he was quiet however regular.

It might hardly be a shock if he’s the U-23 group captain at Olympic qualifying. He hasn’t performed with the U-23 group but, however no participant probably on that roster has his expertise and on the sector he performs with a maturity past his years.

He’s one other success story for the FC Dallas pipeline and a participant who might be bought before later.