CARSON, CA – Friday’s closing matches at the U14 Boys National Team camp here were good as a goal-scoring exercise for Manny Schellscheidt’s squad, but perhaps not much else.

The group took wins over Southern California club team by respective scores of 8-2 and 9-0, a far cry from 4 tightly-contested affairs on Monday and Wednesday, and not what the camp organizers had in mind in terms of competition for the evening.

Schellscheidt acknowledged that the overall match quality Friday wasn’t ideal, but cited a couple of mitigating circumstances.

“We’re not a club team, but if you’re a club team you might feel like every 10 games or so you don’t mind having games like these,” Schellscheidt said. “We were able to move it along and have a good time out there. You wouldn’t want it on a regular basis but sometimes having a relatively easy time of it is ok.”

Schellscheidt also praised the opposing coaches for not bunkering in after their teams fell behind by a few goals.

“You saw the innocence of children playing out there. They still tried to play and that is to their credit,” he said. “The result may have been that we scored even more goals, but it is still to their credit and better for them in the long run. There will be time for bunkering and that kind of stuff soon enough.”

The camp is the final one for the 1994 birth year players. Their next meeting will be sometime in August, possibly in New Jersey, as U15s.

 
Game 1: U14 BNT 8, LAFC Rampage 2

Perhaps the only negative for the U.S. side was an early injury to goalkeeper Kendall McIntosh, who had just returned to action following an injury at the beginning of the camp. Fernando Pina and Alex Bello then deputized in net the rest of the way.

The U.S. opened the scoring when Alfred Edmonds took a pass from Atsouh Ayah and made a run down the right before crossing a ball over. TJ Casner dummied in the area and Erick Sanchez calmly fired home from 15 yards out for a 1-0 U.S. lead.

The 2^nd U.S. goal started in the back when Matt Dunn won a tackle and started a counterattacking move by passing to Derek Sanchez. Derek played a pass ahead to Erick Sanchez who made a strong down the right before passing to Edmonds, who finished into an open net to make it 2-0. Edmonds and Erick Sanchez switched roles on the next goal, with Edmonds running down the right and playing  pass to Erick, who finished well for a 3-0 lead, which was the halftime score

Erick Sanchez was starting to run riot as the 2^nd half began, eagerly taking the ball and attacking the LAFC defense. He created the 4^th goal by winning a ball deep in the opposing end, dribbling past a defender and rolling a pass for left back Marc Pelosi, who knocked it home to make it 4-0.

LAFC’s Mike Allevato made a good run through the middle and hit a shot that appeared goalbound, but Alex Bello made a leaping fingertip save in the U.S. goal. A miscue in the back however did end the U.S. shutout bid, as David Turcios won the ball and rounded the keeper to make the score 4-1.

The Rampage resurgences was short-lived however, as U.S. midfielder Oscar Ortega ran into the area and chipped the keeper for a 5-1 scoreline. Ortega then hit a gorgeous pass to release Ross Tetro down the right right wing, and Tetro made a good run into the area before striking a fierce shot with his left foot to make it 6-1.

Turcios drew a foul in the area at the other end, and Chris Cuicedo converted the penalty to cut the U.S. lead to 6-2, but the hits kept coming for the U.S. team. Tetro stole a ball in the forward third, ran in the area and then hit a killer pass for TJ Casner, who got a deserved goal in reward for his hard work all week. Casner doubled his pleasure minutes later with a rebound effort off his own saved blast, providing a final scoreline of 8-2.

Erick Sanchez said the match was a good way to close the week.

“I scored and had a lot of fun,” he said. “I could have done better this week but I did pretty good, and if they invite me back I’ll try to do better. I think we kept possession and combined well tonight.”

Matt Dunn, former of Dallas club Solar but now a new arrival at Brad Friedel’s PSA facility in Ohio, made a strong center back combination with Portland’s Josh Miller. Dunn had never played defense before this week, but admitted he could get used to it.

“We talked a lot about organization, about when to step up or when to drop off,” Dunn said. “The coaches talked to us every night back at the hotel so we learned a lot about keeping organized.”

 

Game 1 Lineups

 

U14 BNT

GK: Kendall McIntosh (Fernando Pina, Alexander Bello)

D: Alfred Edmonds (Ross Tetro), Josh Miller, Matt Dunn, Bennett Yort (Marc Pelosi)

M: Leonard Kusina, Alex Olofson (Oscar Ortega), Atsouh Ayah (Gabriel Lock), Derek Sanchez (Eric Gonzales)

F: TJ Casner, Eric Sanchez (Desmond Gonzales)

 

LAFC Rampage (Roster only)

Zach Cohen, Chris Monroy, Marino Bianchi, Chris Cuicedo, Adam Cupingood, Jonathan Kupperman, Mike Allevato, Jake Cohen, Riley Arian, Cesar Molgora, David Turcios, Chip Datello, Christian Sanchez, Alex Valdez, Brenton Frame, Junior Rodriguez, Guillermo Villalobos, Jonathan Villalobos

 

Game 2: U14 BNT 9, Real So Cal 0

Game 2 provided more of the same for the U.S. team in terms of goals. DC United’s Yaw Amankwa was overpowering up front and scored 2 early tallies. Victor Zamora concluded a good week with a hat trick and Boston-area product Devin Devoy added 2 goals of his own. Esteban Rodriguez and Aldo Magana also scored for the U14s.

Jalen Robinson played a solid game in the back line for the U.S., and Josh McNeely pulled off perhaps the save of the week with a fingertip effort in the 2^nd half to preserve the shutout.

Game 2 Lineups

 

U14 BNT

GK: Cody Niedermeier (Josh McNeely)

D: Jerome Cristobal, Jalen Robinson, Malcolm Harris (Andrew Chang), Todd Wharton

M: Travis Pillon (Joel Salmeron), Victor Zamora, Alejandro Guido (Collin Martin), Mikhail Dohalis (Sebastian Velasquez)

F: Yaw Amankwa (Devin Devoy), Esteban Rodriguez (Aldo Magana)

 

Real  So Cal (Roster only)

Cody Thompson, Jaime Alvarado, Shane Steffes, Ivan Loca, Peter Uribe, Ryan Wilcox, Daniel Dannas, Angel Fernandez, Munny Mannik, Dylan, Sammy Vangelos, Ricky Sylvan, Matt Rosendo, Connor Collins, Nick Garcia