Unselfish USA roars past Turkey in NIKE International Friendlies

If there’s one word to sum up the United States U-17 National Team in this week’s NIKE International Friendlies, it’s unselfish.

On Friday, Team USA used its cohesive attack to dismantle yet another foe. This time the U.S. ripped past Turkey, 5-1, at the Lakewood Ranch Premier Sports Campus.

“In practice, we’re pretty selfish and wanting to work on our own,” U.S. forward Andrew Carleton said. “... But when we come out here, it’s for the team, it’s for the country. We’re playing for a bigger purpose than just individually. And we’re trying to win that trophy on Sunday.”

The victory coupled with Brazil’s 3-3 draw with Portugal earlier on Friday means the U.S. can win the annual tournament with a draw against Brazil on Sunday. But getting there Friday wasn’t as easy as Wednesday’s 7-1 rout of the Portuguese.

For the first 15 minutes, Team USA was on the back foot, falling behind 1-0 through a Recep Gül scorcher past goalkeeper Justin Garces.

“I had the angle pretty well and he was just crafty,” Garces said. “He took a side touch to his left and kind of hit it really quick. And the ball kind of spun outwards. ... It was really tight, and the fact that he hit it high, throws you off a little bit.”

Despite the conceded goal, Garces — one of three Florida natives on the team — came up big just before the Americans found their game.

He made two stops within seconds during a Turkish onslaught in the 16th minute.

“I feel like my stops stopped them a little bit,” Garces said. “And it let my team get back up and get the goal we needed to get back into the game.”

Then Team USA switched gears and blasted Turkey through the front three of Ayomide Akinola, Joshua Sargent and Carleton. It was the second consecutive match in which the trio excelled.

Carleton supplied the first two goals, bringing his tournament tally to four. The first one came in the 24th minute off an Akinola cross that Sargent deflected into Carleton’s path.

And just before halftime, Carleton completed his brace to whip the American Outlaws, a Team USA supporter’s group, into a frenzy behind Garces’ goal.

Not only did Turkey lose the lead in the final 25 minutes of the first half, but Gül was also lost when he pulled up with a goal scoring chance holding his hamstring. He was stretchered off, and Turkey was without its goal scorer.

Undeterred, Team USA kept the unselfish theme in the second half when Akinola tapped in the third goal from Sargent, who passed to the wide-open Akinola instead of firing off a shot.

“That’s a really difficult Turkey team to play against,” USA U-17 head coach John Hackworth said. “And to go down a goal early in the game and not having it go our way, so our resolve, problem-solving and finding a way back into the game was excellent. And then we kept pushing and pushing. And I think we showed our quality in the end.”

That 60th minute goal was followed seven minutes later with yet another Akinola sitter.

Midfielder George Acosta beat his marker, then distributed to Akinola in a 2-on-1 break rather than attempt a contested shot.

And the final tally came four minutes from time with substitute Timothy Weah battering in an empty net rebound following a flurry of American chances.

Noteworthy

▪ For the second time this week, a moment of silence was observed for Chapecoense, the Brazil soccer club that lost 71 of 77 people on board a plane that crashed in Colombia on Monday.

▪ The last name Weah might ring bells for soccer fans. He’s the son of the legendary George Weah, who is one of the best players to never play in a World Cup after playing internationally with Liberia. Timothy is pretty good, too, playing his club football with PSG, one of the bigger clubs in Europe.

▪ Friday’s results leaves the U.S. on top with six points and Brazil in second with four points. Portugal and Turkey were eliminated. Team USA and Brazil meet in Sunday’s featured match at 5 p.m.

This story was originally published December 2, 2016 at 11:13 PM with the headline "Unselfish USA roars past Turkey in NIKE International Friendlies."