US Under 17s lose to Turkey
Published 12/10/2007 9:34:21 AM by staff from ussoccer.com
The US Under-17 Men’s National Team ‘92s fell to Turkey, 2-0, in the final international match of the Development Academy Nike Friendlies. Two first-half goals from Ali Cukadar lifted Turkey to the victory.
Turkey put the U.S. under pressure right from the start, earning a corner kick in the sixth minute that Ogulcan Gokce headed just over the bar. Five minutes later, Cukadar eluded his defender and got on the end of an Omer Karanci cross, snapping his header to the far post and beating U.S. goalkeeper Samir Badr.
Two minutes before halftime, Kamil Tevfik played a long ball upfield for Berkin Aslan, who took a perfect first touch with the outside of his foot toward goal. Aslan saw Cukadar alongside him in the box and played a square ball into his path, and Cukadar was able to put it in the net from two yards away.
“I think we had trouble finding a rhythm today,” said second-half substitute Carlos Martinez. “They took advantage of the scoring opportunities they created, and we didn’t put ours away. That’s how soccer goes sometimes, but we’ll be able to learn from this game and take the lessons back to practice.”
The best chance for the Americans came in the 38th minute after a corner kick. Lemus, who took the corner, got the ball back and crossed it toward the near post. Defender Jared Watts was up on the attack and got a head on it, but his downward header bounced just past the post. In the 58th minute, Watts again was up in the box on a corner kick, but his snapped header was saved by goalkeeper Umutcan Yuksel. Late in the game, the U.S. had another chance on a corner kick, this time with second-half sub Donovan Henry getting on the end of the ball, but his header went right to Yuksel.
“Overall, it was a successful weekend,” said head coach Wilmer Cabrera. “We got two good wins, played well, and today we got a chance to look at some of our other players and evaluate them in an international game.”
The U.S. finished the weekend with two wins and a loss, taking 2-0 wins over Russia on Thursday and Brazil on Saturday. Carlos Martinez and Stefan Jerome each scored two goals on the weekend, while Earl Edwards added two shutouts in Wilmer Cabrera’s international coaching debut.
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