US Under 17s advance to World Cup with drama filled 3-2 overtime win

The US Under 17s knew it was not going to be easy to get past a feisty El Salvador side in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Under 17 championships and it definitely was not.  The game had it all.  A terrible field.  A shoddy referee.  Red cards and drama.

The Americans came out on the front foot and put El Salvador under pressure from the opening whistle.  It paid off in the 5th minute when Joe Amon found Alejandro Guido with a perfect cross.  Guido headed home and the US had their early lead.  El Salvador would answer though as a breakdown on the right side of the US defense allowed Jose Pena to race in on goal where he slid the ball past American keeper Fernando Pina to tie the match.

The remainder of the opening half was choppy with the US getting some chances through Andrew Oliver, but the game going 1-1 to half.  The second half saw the US attack and El Salvador looking to counter.  As the half wore on El Salvador started time wasting with several instances of players staying down and stopping play.  The tactic worked and the game would go to overtime where the drama got worse.

Just like at the start of the match, the Americans opened strongly and in the 95th minute they had their lead.  Marc Pelosi got loose down the left side and played a nice cross that found Mario Rodriguez Jr racing in on the backside for an easy finish.  El Salvador had to start pushing forward and the US made them pay minutes later to make it 3-1.  Alejandro Guido split two defenders and raced deep into the El Salvador box before cutting the ball back for Marc Pelosi to fire home.  Shortly after the US had Kellyn Perry-Acosta shown his second yellow for time wasting and the Americans were down to ten men.

Things still looked comfortable as the US were up 3-1 with 15 minutes of overtime left.  They were far from it.  El Salvador played a ball into the US penalty area and American keeper Fernando Pina raced out to collect the high ball.  He jumped and caught the ball, but he also extended his leg putting his boot into the face of an El Salvador player who fell like a sack of potatoes.  Then El Salvador players raced in to confront the Americans and Jose Pena decked the American keeper.  After a long and tense stoppage both the US keeper and Pina were shown red cards and dismissed.

The Americans were down to 9 men and El Salvador's Gerardo Iraheta converted the penalty kick cutting the lead to 3-2.  The US was able to kill off the final 5 minutes and hold on for the win.  With the victory the US Under 17s qualified for the upcoming FIFA U17 World Cup.