The U-17 team played a friendly this morning at Providence Park (formerly Jeld-wen Field, PGE Park, Civic Stadium, etc) against the Timbers Academy plus a few Reserve team players. I showed up 15 min into the match and may have missed a goal (someone said they thought the Timbers had scored one already), but I saw 2 goals for each team. The US squad looked pretty tight, though didn't ever seem to really take control of the game, and got beat the last 15 minutes or so when the Timbers attacked hard and put lots of pressure on the US's back line. The standouts for me were the goalscorers for the US--Haji Wright and who I think may have been Christian Pulisic. Wright was fantastic throughout, scoring a very well-taken goal and constantly attacking the goal, giving the Timbers real problems every time he touched the ball. He looked to be the most refined of all the players on the field, with rarely a poor touch or bad decision. He assisted on Pulisic's goal as well as scoring his own, and tore apart the Timbers defence on his assist, making Pulisic's goal a very easy finish. Pulisic is listed as a forward on ussoccer.com, but if it was actually him I saw out there then he's definitely a #10, and was wearing that number on his jersey, rightly so. He was a real leader in the midfield, with most attacks in the second half coming through his play. The goalkeeper wearing #12 was William Pulisic, who may be Christians brother. He may have only played the second half, but looked solid and had one really fantastic save, just tipping out a very well-struck shot that was going in just inside the post. Also, in the tradition of US goalkeepers, he's already balding, so that bodes well . I would probably say man of the match was Haji Wright. Overall, the US looked good--particularly, the US guys were physically stronger than their Timbers Academy counterparts, and definitely look like they do lots of weight training. Looking forward to seeing more of Haji Wright and Christian Pulisic.
Thanks for the write up..I am curious as to the ages of the Portland team, I thought per top soccer they were slightly older but you noted that the US appeared to be stronger etc.. not saying both can't be true
There's not much info about the academy players, but they look like they are probably of similar age (around 17), and some are likely a little older. There were 5 players with numbers (non-academy players), including a practice squad goalkeeper, 3 guys who recently signed through the draft (so early 20s--Schillo Tshuma, Taylor Peay and George Fochive), and Alvas Powell, a Jamaican right back the Timbers signed last season who is 19. It may have just been the cut of the jerseys, but the guys on the US squad just looked more muscular. No one had the speed to keep up with Alvas Powell, however. He consistently blew by his defenders on the Timbers' right side of the field with little effort, and spent most of the second half in the US's side of the field.
As you may know, Powell is already playing with Jamaica's senior team. Still learning, but a Grade A athlete. But the Timbers academy player I've most enjoyed watching is Jesse Garcia. Wouldn't surprise me if he was smaller than anyone on the U17s.
I just want to point out that this early in the U17 cycle, most of the residency players are still 15. So if they were playing the U18 Timbers players (17-18 years old), plus the guys from the first team roster that you mentioned, and played them evenly, that's pretty amazing.