New Delhi: A 21-member United States football team arrived here Sunday night to take part in the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The team, coached by John Hackworth came from Dubai where they had a seven-day camp, preparing for the event.
The USA are in Group A along with hosts India, Colombia and Ghana. They will open their campaign against India, October 6.
The US Soccer Federation had named 17 players who were part of the team that played in the qualifying tournament – the 2017 CONCACAF U-17 Championships in April – in which they had finished second.
Prominent players in the team include Josh Sargent and Tim Weah. The former will sign with Bundesliga club Werder Bremen next February when he turns 18. He also played at the U-20 World Cup in Korea earlier this year, making him the first US player since Freddy Adu in 2003 to play in the U-20 and U-17 World Cups in the same year.
Weah, son of former ‘FIFA World Player of the Year’ and Liberia great George Weah, has joined with Paris Saint Germain earlier this year.
USA have participated in 15 of the 16 editions of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, having only missed out in 2013. Their best showing came in New Zealand in 1999, when Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley and Oguchi Onyewu helped the Americans to a fourth-place finish, narrowly missing out on a spot in the final after losing to Australia on penalties in the semifinals.
The Americans reached the quarterfinals on four other occasions, most recently in Peru 2005. Last time in Chile in 2015, USA failed to emerge from the group stage for the first time since 2001.
“We are here with the sole aim of bettering our best ever results in the tournament,” Hackworth told reporters. “This team have tremendous potential and our first goal is to qualify for the knockouts. Then we will take it one match at a time.”
Press trust of India
