U23s Draw with Japan’s U22 side

By: FC Dallas, FIFA, MLS, Real Salt Lake, US National Team

Here is the box score from the US U-23 squad’s draw with the U-22′s of Japan. Looks if though it was a solid match despite the fact that it was a draw. Remember this is the first game in a while for the U-23s.

U.S. Under-23 MNT vs. Japan U-22 National Team
Date: February 21, 2007
Competition: Kirin Challenge Cup
Venue: KKWing Stadium – Kumamoto, Japan
Kickoff: 7 p.m. local time
Attendance: 14,007
Weather: 53 degrees, clear

Scoring Summary:
1 2 F
USA 0 0 0
Japan 0 0 0

Lineups:
USA: 1-Chris Seitz; 15-Sean Franklin, 3-Rob Valentino, 5-Nathan Sturgis, 12-Tim Ward; 6-Quavas Kirk (11-Sal Zizzo, 46’) 17-Sacha Kljestan (capt.), 7-Peter Lowry, 9-Arturo Alvarez; 16-Adam Cristman (13-Jacob Peterson, 69’), 10-Jamie Watson (20-Michael Harrington, 83’)
Subs not used: 24-Justin Hughes, 2-Ryan Solle, 4-Patrick Ianni, 14-Hunter Freeman
Head Coach: Bob Bradley

JPN: 1-Kenya Matsui; 3-Naoaki Aoyama, 4-Hiroki Mizumoto, 5-Masahiko Inoha (capt.), 8-Keisuke Honda (14-Akihiro Ienaga, 72’), 10-Yohei Kajiyama, 16-Takuya Honda (13-Hiroyuki Mizumoto, 77’), 18-Koki Mizuno, 24-Tadanari Lee (11-Takuya Kokeguchi,72’), 9-Sota Hirayama (20-Yasuhito Morishima, 87’), 22-Robert Cullen (7-Chikashi Masuda, 60’)
Subs not used: 12-Kaito Yamamoto, 2-Yugo Ichiyanagi, 15-Kota Ueda, 17-Atsuto Uchida, 19-Kazuhiko Chiba, 21-Yohei Fukumoto, 23-Akihiro Hayashi
Head Coach:Yasuharu Sorimachi

Stats Summary:
USA/JPN
Shots 9/14
Saves 5/6
Corner Kicks 7/10
Fouls 20/21
Offside 2/1

Misconduct Summary:
USA – Sean Franklin (caution) 63rd minute
JPN – Naoaki Aoyama (caution) 68.
JPN – Keisuke Honda (caution) 70.
USA – Tim Ward (caution) 75.
JPN – Koki Mizuno (caution) 88.
USA – Sacha Kljestan (caution) 92+

WVH’s View: Not a bad showing for the guys. Some people may wonder who the keeper is for the US. Seitz, from what I’ve read and seen, is a solid player between the pipes. A real solid pair of hands that could very well be the future of the US National team. Real Salt Lake should be happy to have him in their future.

Also nice to see Arturo Alvarez have a decent game in the midfield. I have more hopes for this kid going into the upcoming MLS season with FC Dallas.

Overall not a bad showing for the guys, hopefully this is just a sign of more to come.

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