CHULA VISTA, Calif. - January 14, 2016 - The four-game practice series between the U.S. U-21 Men's National Team and the U-21 Canadian squad began today at the Chula Vista Olympic Training Center. The opportunity to gain international and game experience as well as developing a tactical understanding are part of Team USA's journey toward the Junior Pan American Games in May. Today's match ended in a 0-8 loss for the red, white and blue.
“Although the score does not reflect it, there were positive points in our all around play," said Rutger Wiese, U.S. U-21 Men's National Team Coach. "Our improvement areas are our return on investments in the circle. We need to firm up our individual defense in their the initial circle entry of Canada. I thought that we had a handful of stellar performances, specifically coming from our central midfielder, George McGuigan and Sean Cicchi.”
The first half was evenly contested between these two squads, figuring each other out to start the match off. Canada earned a penalty corner at the 19th minute mark. Canada's Harbir Sidhu was able to convert on a broken corner with a strike from the top of the circle over a stacked Nathan O’Lari (Orange, Mass.). With consistent effort by Team USA, opportunities were limited throughout the half. At the 26th minute, Canada earned their second penalty corner of the half and Canada's Ganga Singh was able to take a clean drag flick past our left post for their second goal of the match, creating a halftime score of 0-2.
“We met Canada’s intensity in the first half," said George McGuigin (Thousand Oaks, Calif.), USMNT athlete. "The positive take away is that were that we developed our attacking and defensive shape and became more comfortable in our roles on the field. This has definitely been a wake up call for the whole team, so expect a stronger USA side in the up and coming matches.”
USA started the second half well with a number of phases of play that they had been working on in the previous day's training, however they were unable to maintain this through the remainder of the match. With the possession swinging back in Canada’s favor, they were able to begin to break USA’s defense. Canada scored another six goals. In the 48th minute, Canada's Brandon Pereira capitalized on another attack penalty corner to go up 3-0. The 50th minute saw the first of three Canadian field goals scored by Rohan Chopra among a scrum in front of the USA’s net. Canada converted on two more penalty corners courtesy of Brandon Pereira and Ganga Singh recorded his second of the match as well. This 10 minute period of play showed Canada’s intent to continue their momentum.
In the closing 9 minutes of play, Canada was able to finish two more field goals in the 61st and 65th minutes by Chopra, his second of the match and Zaiq Rana, his first to make the score 0-8.
“I am positive in our growth as a team during this training camp and this series," said Sean Cicchi (Thousand Oaks, Calif.), USMNT athlete. "We lacked the creation of combinations up front to give us goal scoring opportunities. Playing an experienced Canadian side, we see their confidence on the field and we are looking forward to matching that throughout the next matches.”
The series will continue tomorrow with game two held at 10:30 a.m. PST.
U-21 USMNT Series Roster:
Rishi Bhargava, Ajit Parmer, Nick Richardson, Keeling Pilaro, Casey Walker, Ethan La Sala, George McGuigan, Sean Cicchi, Amardeep Khokhar, Christian DeAngelis, Douglas Allison, Ruben Van Dam, Jayce Lewis, Lewis Hashmi, Trent Warren, Graeme Jackson, Nate O’Lari, and Ryan Torigianm
This weekend will also feature matches against two Junior High Performance Teams, East Coast and Ventura County Red Devils, at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif.