Freddy vs. South Korea

Adu's hat trick leads U.S. Under-17s to 6-1 win

Freddy Adu scored the first hat trick by a U.S. player in the U-17 worlds in 10 years. AP

LAHTI, Finland (AP) -- Freddy Adu scored three goals as the United States routed South Korea 6-1 to open the Under-17 World Championships.

Adu, the 14-year-old sensation, gave the Americans a boost after they fell behind 1-0 on an own goal.

He scored five minutes later with some fancy footwork before putting the ball home.

In the final minutes of the game, Adu added two more goals, finishing off his hat trick with a penalty kick.

Brandon Owens, Jamie Watson and Steve Curfman also scored for the United States, with Owens getting the go-ahead goal in the 27th minute.

SI.com On-site A hat trick by Freddy Adu. A 6-1 win over a feared South Korea team. A two-point lead in Group D. The U.S. couldn’t have asked for more from its opening game here in the Under-17 World Championship. Writing from Lahti, Finland, SI.com’s Grant Wahl dives right into some Q&A.

The six goals were the most the U.S. team has scored in a world championship tournament, and the five-goal margin also set a national record.

"We got behind right away with an own goal, but I thought our guys did well to counter that, and it didn't deter them from taking the play," U.S. coach John Ellinger said.

"I never expected an offensive explosion of this kind."

The result was a complete turnaround from the previous meeting two months ago, a 3-0 Korean victory.

The only other U.S. hat trick in the event came in 1993, by Judah Cooks against Qatar.

Stat Summary   U.S.  KOR  Shots  12  10  Saves  9  5  Corners  5  3  Fouls  22  16  Offside  9  0

In the same Group D, a last-minute goal by Xisco pulled favored Spain 3-3 into a 3-3 tie with Sierra Leone.

Spain led 2-0 after 15 minutes, but Sierra Leone midfielder Samuel Barlay scored three times, giving the African team the lead 73 minutes into the game.

Xisco evened the score in the 96th minute during injury time.

In Group C play in Tampere, Cameroon snatched a point from another favorite, Brazil, despite being one man down for the entire second half. The game ended 1-1.

Group D Standings   GP  W  D  L  GF  GA  +/-  Pts.  U.S.  1  1  0  0  6  1  +5  3  Sierra Leone  1  0  1  0  3  3  0  1  Spain  1  0  1  0  3  3  0  1  S. Korea  1  0  0  1  1  6  -5  0

Portugal beat Yemen 4-3 on two late goals.

Manuel Fernandez evened the score after 82 minutes, and Abdullah Al Safi put the ball in Yemen's own net to give Portugal the win.

Summary

Scoring:

KOR - Own goal 11th minute
U.S. - Freddy Adu (Danny Szetela) 16th
U.S. - Brandon Owens 26th
U.S. - Jamie Watson 54th
U.S. - Steve Curfman 75th
U.S. - Freddy Adu (Jamie Watson) 89th
U.S. - Freddy Adu (penalty kick) 90th

Lineups:

U.S. - 1-Phil Marfuggi; 3-Jonathan Spector, 5-Brandon Owens, 12-Steve Curfman; 15-Corey Ashe (6-Chris Germani, 65), 17-Daniel Szetela, 8-John DiRaimondo, 10-Guillermo Gonzalez (7-Brian Grazier, 74), 4-Eddie Gaven; 13-Jamie Watson, 11-Freddy Adu.
Subs not used: 18-Quentin Westberg, 19-Jacob Peterson, 28-Stephen Sandbo, 16-Adrian Chevannes, 14-Julian Valentin, 9-Michael Harrington, 2-Kyle Helton

KOR- 1-Ki Seok Cha; 4-Jin Ouk Kang, 6-Sang Hup Lee, 7-Seung Min Baek, 9-Dong Hyen Yang, 10-Dong Won Han (Sang Hyun An, 62, 11-Yong Rae Lee, 12-Sang Yong Lee, 19-Young Rok Shin (17-Kyoung Jun Ou, 67), 20-Gang Jin Lee (3-Kyu Hawn Hwang, 62).

Misconduct Summary:

KOR - Gang Jin Lee 48
USA - Danny Szetela 56
KOR - Jin Ouk Kang 64
USA - Jonathan Spector 68
USA - Freddy Adu 88

Officials:

Referee: Eddy Maillet (SEY)
Asst. Ref. 1: Joseph Damoo (SEY)
Asst. Ref. 2: Ronny Mellon (SEY)
4th Official: Jari Maisonlahti (FIN)

Group D Results and Schedule

Thursday, August 14
U.S. 6, Korea Republic 1
Sierra Leone 3, Spain 3

Sunday, August 17
U.S. vs. Sierra Leone 3 p.m. local time / 8 a.m. ET
Spain vs. Korea Republic 5:30 p.m. local time / 10:30 a.m. ET

Wednesday, August 20
Sierra Leone vs. Korea Republic 5:30 p.m local time / 10:30 a.m. ET
U.S. vs. Spain 8 p.m. local time / 1 p.m. ET

 

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