Adu hits hat trick

U.S. U-17s beat Blackburn 4-2 in cup warmup

Stats Summary   USA  BLK  Shots  11  4  Saves  2  6  Corners  5  6  Fouls  6  17  Offside  1  0

ATLANTA (SI.com) -- The U.S. under-17 men’s national team got three second-half goals from Freddy Adu to defeat the under-18 Blackburn Rovers 4-2 on Saturday at the Blackburn Rovers Academy.

The match was the first of four preparation games the team will play before it travels to Finland for the FIFA Under-17 World Championship. The U.S. will next play fellow world championship participant Australia on Monday at Everton’s training ground.

“I’m pleased with the team’s effort today, especially in the second half,” said U-17 head coach John Ellinger. “We struggled a bit in the first half, but we ended up finding a rhythm and were able to get a number of good looks on goal. These are the kinds of games we need to play to help us get prepared for Finland.”

The teams went into halftime tied 1-1 before Ellinger made six substitutions -- including Adu -- to start the second half.

In the 54th minute, Adu pushed the ball just inside the 18-yard box and ripped a shot inside the right post past goalkeeper Steve Drench. Four minutes later, Adu notched the eventual game-winner by taking advantage of a defensive miscue. Blackburn central defender Luke Humphrey misplayed a back pass, and Adu pounced on the loose ball before beating the last defender and Drench.

Blackburn was able to cut their deficit to 3-2 after U.S. goalkeeper Quentin Westberg was called for triping midfielder Sergio Peter in the box in the 68th minute. Tareck Sakali finished the penalty.

Adu finished off the scoring 10 minutes later, taking a pass from Corey Ashe and burying the ball into the back of the net despite being flanked by two defenders.

The hat trick gives Adu 17 on the year, putting him in second place for most goals behind teammate Guillermo Gonzalez (20).

In the first half, Blackburn had the upper hand as they continually were able to break through the U.S. defense and get shots on goal. The backline particularly had trouble keeping forward Keith Barker, whom at 6’4” towered over most of the U.S. player, in check. Early in the contest, Barker got a good look from about 10 yards out, but his low blast went wide right.

Blackburn did finally get on the board in the first half, breaking open the scoring in the 5th minute off a corner kick. The U.S., which struggled to mark up during almost every free kick in the first half, failed to challenger defender Gavin Peers as he whipped a wicked header that caromed off the crossbar and dropped in.

Summary

Scoring:

BLK – Gavin Peers 5th minute
USA – Jamie Watson 6th
USA – Freddy Adu 54th
USA – Freddy Adu 58th
BLK – Tareck Sakali 68th
USA – Freddy Adu 78th

Lineups:

USA – 18-Quentin Westberg; 14-Julian Valentin (3-Jonathan Spector, 46), 16-Adrian Chevannes (5-Brandon Owens, 46), 2-Kyle Helton (12-Steve Curfman, 46); 6-Chris Germani (8-John DiRaimondo, 46), 9-Michael Harrington (15-Corey Ashe, 46), 7-Brian Grazier, 10-Guillermo Gonzalez (11-Freddy Adu, 46) 17-Daniel Szetela; 4-Eddie Gaven, 13-Jamie Watson. Subs not used: 1-Phil Marfuggi, 28-Steven Sandbo, 6-Jacob Peterson

BLK – 1-Steve Drench (13-Joe Anyon, 69); 3-Andy Taylor, 5-Luke Jones, 6-Gavin Peers (14-Luke Humphrey, 56), 2-Paul Weaver; 11-Sergio Peter (16-Boubackar Kebe, 65), 4-Joel Byrom, 8-Peter Corvino (12-Jim Hoyle, 58), 7-Tareck Sakali; 10-Clark Walsh (15-Andrew Reid, 68), 9-Keith Barker.

 

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