CHICAGO (May 12, 2015) – Gabe Segal, Luis Arriaga and Marcelo Palomino each scored goals to lead the U.S. Under-14 Boys’ National Team to victory over Croatia U14’s on May 11.

Gabe Segal struck first on a laser of a shot that gave the U.S. a 1-0 lead in the game’s 17th minute. The score line would hold until the closing minutes of the first half, when Croatia came up with the game’s second goal, which came off of a deflection in the box. Ivan Brkic’s tally would prove to be Croatia’s only score of the game. 

The USA came out in the second half and dominated the run of play, but with five minutes left in the 70-minute match, the all was still even at 1-1.  Konrad de La Fuente set up the go-ahead goal by beating three Croatian defenders and blasting a shot at goal. Croatian goalkeeper Vidovic Josip was able to deflect the shot away, but Luis Arriaga followed and netted the rebound to put the U.S. up 2-1 in 66th minute. Two minutes later, the U.S. scored again when Marcelo Palomino notched a goal following his own rebound.

The U-14s play NK Bravo Ljubljana’s U-14 team on Wednesday, and will then follow with a match against Serbia’s U-14 National Team on Friday.

-U.S. Under-14 Boys’ National Team Match Report-

Match: U.S. U-14 Boys’ National Team vs. Croatia U-14 National Team
Date: May 11, 2015
Competition: International Friendly
Venue: Dinamo Zagreb Training Facility
Kickoff: 5 p.m. local time
Weather: 75 degrees

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

USA – Gabe Segal                                17th minute
CRO – Ivan Brkic                                   36
USA – Luis Arriaga                                66
USA – Marcelo Palomino                       68

Lineups: 

USA: 1-Cole McNally (GK); 2-Cameron Duke, 4-Abraham Gonzalez (6-Nick Fernandez, 36), 5-Sebastian Serpa, 7-John Hilton; 9-Taylor Booth (Capt), 8-Indiana Vassilev (15-Marcelo Palomino, 51), 10–Luis Arriaga; 11-Ulysses Llanez (Konrad de La Fuente, 51) 17-Jose Rivas, 18-Gabe Segal (15-Tim Bielic, 51) 

Subs not used: 13-Julian Hinojosa, 19-Joey Zarra, 20-Dominic DeAlmeida, 22-Nico Defreitas-Hansen, 25-Luke Hansen

Head Coach: Brian Johnson

Croatia: 1-Vidovic Josip (GK); 2-Granic Andrija, 3-Trkulja Fabio, 4-David Viceric, 6-Mario Nikolic; 8-Ivijan Svrznjak, 10-Tomislav Krzmanic, 19-Levin Pejcic; 11-Edin Julardzija, 21-Mateo Tadic, 22-Ivan Brkic