CARSON, CALIF – The U18 Men’s National Team battled through a rainy and windy  night to get positive results from its first pair of games in a weeklong training camp being held at the Home Depot Center.

The immediate purpose of hosting training camp, according to Head Coach Mike Matkovich is to collect player information to create a team that will travel to Israel for a December tournament.

“At this stage where we are right now, we are trying to identify guys. We have 20 new guys who have never been at camp before,” he said. “First, we are always trying to develop players, but second is also to identify guys for our December trip.”

A 2- 1 victory over Ventura County Fusion was followed by a 1-1 come-from-behind draw against FC Hasental. The games were exactly what one would expect as the wet field didn’t provide enough traction. Players slipped, slid, and balls skidded off the touchlines, which led to a more reserved style of play.

Weather aside, the U.S. was able to get on the board first against VC Fusion. A turnover in the midfield allowed the U.S. to switch its play of attack and after Khiry Shelton trapped a long pass, he chipped the ball over the Fusion keeper, for the 1-0 lead.

The second half saw Will Trapp finish off a point-blank shot past the Fusion goalkeeper to double the lead. Ventura County responded at the tail end of the match with a goal, but couldn’t erase the deficit.

Some of the U.S. player’s performances were enough to catch Matkovich’s attention.

“In the first game I thought Cooper Vandermaas-Peeler and Khiry Shelton had a nice game, obviously he scored the goal. Jalen Robinson also had a good half, as he got the assist on Khiry’s goal,” he said. “I thought a lot of guys played fairly decent, but I thought those three guys probably on the night did a little more than the rest of the guys.”

A defender who did well was Juan Pablo Oceguenda. He did an efficient job closing down the left side and is a player carrying a lot of speed.

The second match was hotly contested and FC Hasental took the lead after a loose ball was tucked away. U.S. goalkeeper Tyler Miller made an acrobatic save to block a Hasetal free kick but instead of propelling the ball off to the side, it landed directly at the mouth of goal, which an open Hasental player put away in the back of the net.

The score would stay that way until midway through the second half when Luis Rendon created space for himself and blasted a 25-yard ball past Hasental’s goalkeeper in the left upper corner of the goal.

“Luis Rendon had a fantastic goal I thought,” Matkovich said. “I think in the second game Victor Pineda stepped it up, as did couple of other guys.”

Pineda got the sudden nod to start in place of Luis Gil. According to the coach, the Real Salt Lake midfielder has been battling some injuries. He has been training with the squad but complained of backaches and an injured knee and was not cleared to play. Matkovich said that he will continue training while getting the knee treated and will be evaluated day by day.

With two games under these players’ belts, Makovich now begins looking at the team’s weaknesses and working with the players on new ways to cope with pressure from players who are older and stronger.

“Let’s be realistic,” Matkovich said. “In the defensive end it’s always hard to put a group of guys in a short period and make some sense of it. We try to get them to play more as a block, as a group, and stay compact in the defensive side. The one-on-one defending has to improve. The players need get the things moving a little faster to create more chances, and try to find a better rhythm. They need to learn when to speed up, slow the game down, and get people in the box.”

With the Thanksgiving holiday in the middle of training camp, there will only be a second pair of games on Saturday. The U.S. will host Hollywood United and Orange County Blue Stars.

Lineups vs. Ventura County Fusion
Starters: Andrew Wolverton, Jordan McCrary, Jonathan Campbell, Boyd Okwuonu, Juan Pablo Ocegueda, Khiry Shelton, Will Trapp, Jalen Robinson, Connor Hallisey, Cooper Vandermaas-Peeler, Jonathan Top
Subs: Andrew Harris, Grant Silvester, Vlad Lekarev, Seth Moses, Marcus Salandy-Defour, Uvaldo Luna Martinez, Sean Okoli

Lineups vs. FC Hasental
Starters: Tyler Miller, Malcolm Harris, Walker Zimmerman, Bryan Gallego, Michael Ambrose, Verneri Valimaa, McAmos Paye, Brian James, Amadou Dia, Victor Pineda, Luis Rendon
Subs: Andrew Harris, Andrew Wolverton, Mike Lopez, Caleb Stanko, Xavier Silva, Alec Cochran