Published 3/31/2007 8:56:42 AM by Staff from SoccerAmerica

New York product Gabriel Ferrari and Freddy Adu again provided the goals as the U.S. U-20 national team beat Haiti, 2-1, on Wednesday in Frisco, Texas.

Three days earlier, Ferrari, who joined Italian Serie A club Sampdoria in January, had scored twice and Adu struck once in the U-20s' 3-2 win over SMU.

Against Haiti, Adu opened the scoring by converting a penalty kick after he drew the foul. After Haiti tied the game in the 75th minute Ferrari struck the gamewinner on assists from Dax McCarty and Tim Ward in injury time.

New York-born Ferrari, whose father is Italian-American and whose mother hails from Brazil, played youth club ball for BW Gottschee in Queens and later for the Red Bulls/MetroStars youth program.

''First of all, just to get called up [to the U.S. U-20 team] it was kind of like a dream come true because it hadn't happened before,'' Ferrari, who also has an Italian passport, told Topdrawersoccer.com. ''It was so nice. ... The Italian U19 team called me up for camp as well and there was a question if I would hold some grudge against the United States for not noticing me or this or that, but in the long run the past is the past. I even think maybe I wasn't ready before, but I'm ready now and let's just go forward.''

The USA will compete at the Under-20 World Cup in Canada this summer.

March 28 in Frisco, Texas
USA 2 Haiti 1. Goals: Adu (penalty) 55, Ferrari (McCarty) 91+; Eliphene 75.
USA -- Seitz, Igwe (LaBauex, 89), Sarkodie, Wallace, Ward, Rogers (Wagner, 74), Szetela (Anibaba, 83), Adu, Zizzo (McCarty, 75), Altidore (Beltran, 71), Ferrari.
Haiti - Gabare, Olrish, Fellinga, Raymond (Frantz, 58), Stephane, Marcelin (Mones), Roland (Brunel, 65), Sony, Wadson (Vubert, 64), Velten (Boucicaut, 75), Fabrice (Eliphene, 71).

Print