U.S. U-17s win in Cabrera’s debut

Friday, Dec 7, 2007 7:00 AM ET

The U.S. U-17 ’92 national team won its first international match under new coach Wilmer Cabrera when it beat Russia, 2-0, on Thursday at the Development Academy Nike Friendlies in Bradenton, Fla. The U.S. will next face Brazil on Saturday (TV: Fox Soccer Channel, live, 2:30 p.m. ET). Carlos Martinez (Downtown Las Vegas SC) and Stefan Jerome (Schulz Academy) scored for the USA. "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 Cabrera. "This game was a good first step." The U-17s ’92 team is the team that is beginning the two-year cycle that leads to the 2009 Under-17 World Cup. The youngest player in the U.S. lineup was 13-year-old Charles Renken, a native of Zambia. Also starting for the USA was Joseph-Claude Gyau, grandson of former NASL star Nana Gyau and son of former U.S. international Philip Gyau. German champion Stuttgart was reportedly rebuffed by the German soccer federation in its bid to sign Joseph-Claude Gyau because he was only 14 at the time. Game Summary: Dec. 6 in Bradenton, Fla. USA 2 Russia 0. Goals: Martinez 16, Jerome 47. USA -- Edwards, Orozco, Watts (Craven, 81), Kitchen, Polak (Arevalo, 46), Duran, Renken (McInerney, 64), Martinez, Gyau, Gutierrez (Lemus, 46), Jerome (Craven, 80).    http://www.ussoccer.com/sights/showVideo.jsp_441-0.html (for highlights of the game, click here) 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.”  "Stefan looked great in the game vs. Russia, and was the most dangerous forward of the U17 National Team. He scored one and assisted the other goal. In addition he created many chances for the US, and also assisted 3 other great goal scoring opportunities. His goal was first class. He looked already super in the last Super Y League games he played for our academy before he moved to the Residency Program. Unfortunately we couldn’t play him in the Super Y League Finals last month, where he still would have played for our U14’s, which reached the Semifinal before loosing against the later Champion Arsenal from California 1-0. Overall the US U17 National Team had a great performance vs. Russia, and I am sure the other 3 players of our Academy in the Residency Program. (Donovan Henry, Zach Herold, and Bryan Sylvestre) will make an impact soon in this team, too. Especially Donovan Henry scored already many goals for the US National Team before the Nike Friendlies", says Dr. Josef Schulz, founder of the Schulz Academy.      U.S. Under-17 Men’s National Team Game Report 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