Slovenia deals U-15 BNT first Tournament Delle Nazioni loss

NOVA GORICA, Slovenia (Via U.S. Soccer) – The U.S. Under-15 Boys’ National Team dropped its first game at the 12th Tournament Delle Nazioni, falling to Slovenia 2-3 on Monday, April 27 in Nova Gorica, Slovenia.

The loss pushed the U.S.’s tournament record to 2-1-0 to finish group play with six points, behind group winner Slovenia. The wins over Costa Rica and Croatia however, proved enough points to qualify the USA for the semifinals where it will meet Italy on Wednesday, April 29.

Slovenia struck first in the game’s 23rd minute. From a corner, Slovenia played a ball in that the U.S. cleared out to a Slovenian player, who in-turn received it and served it back into Jaka Bijol, who then took a turn inside the box and finished to put Slovenia up 1-0.

The momentum continued to go the way of Slovenia in the early minutes of the second half and the team tallied two more scores in the half’s first five minutes. The first came in the 37th minute when Slovenia played a ball into Medved Zan, who found a seam between the U.S. center backs and sent in the game’s second goal. In the 40th minute Slovenia scored in a similar fashion when the ball got through to Kerin Luka at the top of the box and he hit a shot over the keeper to increase the lead to three.

The U.S. wouldn’t go down without a fight. Chris Goslin would bury a 22-yard strike in the 66th minute and George Acosta would follow with a free kick goal from 24 yards out in the 70th minute, but time ran out and the USA was dealt its first loss of the tournament.

On Wednesday, the USA and Italy will compete for the chance to take on the winner of the other semifinal game between Slovenia and Austria, with the winners of each game advancing to the Tournament’s final.

–  U.S. U-15 Boys’ National Team Match Report  –

Match: U.S. U-15 BNT v. Slovenia
Date: Monday, April 27, 2015
Competition: Tournament Delle Nazioni, Group Play Game 3
Venue: Nova Gorica, Slovenia
Kickoff: 5 p.m.
Attendance: 100
Weather: 57 degrees; Cloudy with light rain

Scoring Summary:     1          2          F
USA                             0          2          2
SVN                             1          2          3

SVN – Jaka Bijol                       23rd minute
SVN – Medved Zan                   37
SVN – Luka Kerin                      40
USA – Chris Goslin                    66
USA – George Acosta               70

Lineups:
USA: 1-Eric Lopez, 2-Bryan Perez, 4-Jake Arteaga (21-Chandler Vaughn, 42), 5-Rayshaun McGann (19-Jaylin Lindsey, 12), 3-Kelee Cornfield-Saunders, 15-Carlos Anguiano Diaz (18-Chris Goslin, 46), 8-Chris Durkin, 20-Adrian Villegas (13-George Acosta), 7-Tim Weah (17-Zico Bailey, 54), 9-Lucas Del Rosario (16-Ayo Akinola, 46), 11-Andrew Carleton
Subs not used: 6-Blaine Ferri, 22-Alex Budnik
Not dressed: 10-Nicholas Taitague
Head Coach: John Hackworth

SVN: 1-Nick Bicic, 2-Adis Hodzic, 5-Vanja Drkusic, 4-Blaz Urh, 15-Jakob Mesaric (3-Jurij Spanja, 50), 6-Jaka Bijol, 18-Zan Medved (9-Teo Milic, 48), 19-Domen Bozic (8-Zan Rogelj, 36), 14-Tomi Horvat (20-David Kovacic, 58), 11-Luka Kerin (16-Anis Jasaragic, 60), 10-Zan Celarn (13-Lan Piskule, 65)
Subs not used: 17-Aleksnder Bodiroza, 12-Matevz Vidovsek, 7-Aleksander Palamar
Head Coach: Dusan Kosic

Stats Summary: USA / SVN
Shots: 7 / 9
Shots on Goal: 7 / 6
Saves: 5 / 3
Corner Kicks: 1 / 2
Fouls: 13 / 12
Offside: 1 / 2

Misconduct Summary:
SVN – Bozic Domen (caution)    33 minute
SVN – Milic Teo (caution)           52 

Officials:
Referee – Bubek Alen