U.S. U-20 Men’s National Team falls to Uruguay at Gran Parque Central

The U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team fell 4-2 to Uruguay at Gran Parque Central in Montevideo, Uruguay, site of the first-ever FIFA World Cup match.

Uruguay opened the scoring early, when a ball was played through along the left side of the field in the ninth minute. Diego Rolan sent in a cross that deflected off Wil Trapp as he attempted to clear. Renato Cesar pounced and fired a shot into the right side of the goal from about 12 yards out. The second goal came in the 21st minute, when Gonzalo Mastriani recovered a U.S. turnover and blasted a shot from 15 yards out.

The U.S. pulled one back in the 28th minute, when Benji Joya recovered a ball in the middle of the field off a Uruguay turnover. Joya passed to Trapp, who sent a magnificent through ball to Victor Pineda who was crashing inside the right corner of the box. Pineda received the ball and immediately fired a shot into the left side of the goal.

A 35th-minute goal by Uruguay capped off the scoring in the first half with a free kick from 35 yards out. Emiliano Velazquez brought down the free kick with his chest just inside the right corner of the box and placed his shot into the left side of the net. Uruguay’s last goal was a 56th-minute own goal by the U.S. defense.

Pineda dished out the last goal of the game in the first minute of stoppage time when he streaked down the right flank and placed a cross into the center of the area. Daniel Garcia came crashing in, slamming the header into the right side of the goal for the final scoreline.

Both teams will meet up again on June 8 before the U.S. faces Chile on June 12.

— U.S. U-20 Men’s National Team Match Report —

Match: U.S. U-20 MNT v. Uruguay U-20 MNT
Date: Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Competition: International Friendly
Venue: Gran Parque Central; Montevideo, Uruguay
Kickoff: 3 p.m. (2 p.m. ET)
Attendance: 600
Weather: 51 degrees, cloudy and light rain

Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
USA                        1 1 2
URU                        3 1 4

URU – Renato Cesar                         9th minute
URU – Gonzalo Mastriani                   21
USA – Victor Pineda (Wil Trapp)        28
URU – Emiliano Velazquez                35
URU – AJ Cochran (own goal)           56
USA – Daniel Garcia (Victor Pineda)    91

Lineups:
USA: 1-Cody Cropper; 2-Boyd Okwuonu (12-Jordan McCrary), 4-William Packwood, 5-AJ Cochran, 3-Juan Pablo Ocegueda (capt.); 8-Wil Trapp, 10-Benji Joya (16-Mikey Lopez), 6-Caleb Stanko (15-James Rogers, 69); 7-Victor Pineda, 9-Villyan Bijev (Omar Salgado, 17) (13-Jonathan Top, 82), 11-Daniel Garcia
Subs not used: 14-Eric Miller, 18-Tomas Gomez
Not dressed: Daniel Cuevas, Christian Dean
Head Coach: Tab Ramos

URU: 1-Guillermo de Amores; 4-Gabriel de Leon (14-Guillermo Varela, 82), 2-Emiliano Velazquez, 3-Gaston Silva, 6-Gianni Rodriquez; 7-Renato Cesar (15-Leonardo Pais, 66), 5-Jim Varela, 8-Sebastian Cristoforo (16-Maximiliano Moreira, 69); 9-Gonzalo Bueno (22-Diego Laxalt, 73), 10-Gonzalo Mastriani (18-Ruben Bentancourt, 63), 11-Diego Rolan (17-Jhon Pirez, 80)
Subs not used:12-Mathias Cubero, 13-Sebastian Gorga, 19-Sebastian Sosa, 20-Nicolas Albarracin, 21-Rodrigo Aguirre
Head Coach: Juan Jose Verzeri

Stats Summary: USA / URU
Shots: 9 / 12
Shots on Goal: 4 / 7
Saves: 3 / 2
Corner Kicks: 4 / 5
Fouls: 10 / 12
Offside: 0 / 2

Misconduct Summary:
USA – 3-Juan Pablo Ocegueda (caution)  34th minute
USA – 12-Jordan McCrary (caution)         73