{"id":7367,"date":"2026-09-26T23:25:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T23:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=7367"},"modified":"2026-09-26T23:25:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T23:25:00","slug":"the-kids-are-alright-4-takeaways-as-youngsters-shine-in-usas-return-to-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=7367","title":{"rendered":"The Kids Are Alright: 4 Takeaways As Youngsters Shine In USA&#039;s Return To Action"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            BROWSE BY\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373><strong>Inter&amp;Co Stadium (Orlando) \u2014 <\/strong>The U.S. men\u2019s national team\u2019s long road toward the 2030 World Cup is off to a winning start.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>In the USA\u2019s first match since being eliminated from the 2026 event by Belgium in the round of 16, the Stars and Stripes got goals from veterans Malik Tillman and Sebastian and teenage debutants Justin Ellis and Julian Hall to defeat Peru 4-1 on Saturday at the home of MLS side Orlando City in the first of four exhibitions over the next week-and-a-half.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>Here are my takeaways following Saturday\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>Two days shy of his 17th birthday, the Philadelphia Union phenom became the youngest player to appear for the U.S. since Freddy Adu more than 20 years ago and the second youngest to start a match, after Mike Slivinski all the way back in 1991.<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by Rich Storry\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>Deployed by coach Mauricio Pochettino on the right wing \u2014 the same spot at which he\u2019s piled up goals and assists for his hometown club since MLS returned from its World Cup hiatus in mid-July \u2014 Sullivan didn\u2019t look at all out of place.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>Despite the huge jump in speed of play at the international level, the 16-year-old wasn\u2019t physically over matched. He played his passes quickly and occasionally flashed the skill that led Manchester City to come to an agreement with Philly that he\u2019ll move overseas when he turns 18 a year from now. He even picked up a yellow card following a tangle with veteran Peruvian keeper Pedro Gallese. (The caution from Jamaican referee Steffon Dewar was dubious, as Sullivan appeared to be pushed into Gallese by one of his own defenders.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>It was a fine debut all in all, and the first of many appearances for a player who could be a key part of the U.S. program for more than a decade to come.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>Sullivan wasn\u2019t the only teenager to make his debut for the Stars and Stripes on Saturday. With two-time World Cup veteran Antonee &#8220;Jedi&#8221; Robinson on the bench, 18-year-old Peyton Miller \u2013 who has played on the wing for the New England Revolution this season \u2013 returned to his usual spot at left back.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>The fleet-footed Miller also performed\u00a0well, even if he got caught on the wrong side of Gianluca Lapadula on Peru\u2019s first-half equalizer. His ability to stretch the field was apparent when he was able to isolate defenders and beat them to the end line, which he did on multiple occasions. (Jedi replaced Miller a little after the hour mark.)<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by Eston Parker\/ISI Photos\/ISI Photos via Getty Images)<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>Ellis, 19, also got the start in the same stadium at which he plays his home games for Orlando City. That might not have happened had 2026 World Cup roster members Folarin Balogun, Ricardo Pepi and Haji Wright not either been injured or just returning ahead of these four stateside exhibitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>But Ellis took full advantage of the opportunity by deftly nodding Gio Reyna\u2019s free kick over the head of Gallese and off the inside of the far post to give the Americans the lead less than four minutes into contest. So did Hall, who got on the end of a cross from fellow second-half substitute Berhalter just moments after coming onto the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>With 13 uncapped players and eight teenagers on this roster, the focus since the U.S. roster was named on Sept. 17 has understandably been on the newcomers. Yet Pochettino\u2019s lineup in Orlando was far from inexperienced, with Reyna, Matt Freese, Alex Freeman, Tyler Adams \u2014 who wore the captain\u2019s armband for the first time in Poch\u2019s two years at the helm \u2014 Malik Tillman and Auston Trusty having all started games at the 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>All of those vets should continue to occupy big roles on the road to 2030. So should Jedi and Berhalter, not to mention the aforementioned forwards and longtime mainstays Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie, who are also just returning to action for their clubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>(Photo by Alex Menendez\/USSF\/Getty Images)<\/span> --><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>And the same goes for 23-year-old AC Milan midfielder Yunus Musah, who made his first appearance for his country since early 2025. Musah started all four games for the U.S. at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar but didn\u2019t make the roster four years later after skipping last year\u2019s Gold Cup for personal reasons and then struggling for playing time on loan to Atalanta during the 2025-26 Italian Serie A season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>Pochettino said on Friday that he would\u2019ve rather had more training time and fewer than four games during FIFA\u2019s new extended September\/October window, games that were scheduled before he inked his new four-year contract with the U.S. Soccer Federation in August.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by Alex Menendez\/USSF\/Getty Images)<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>Yet for U.S. fans \u2014 and especially the millions of new ones made during the Americans' stirring run to the round of 16 over the summer\u00a0 \u2014 seeing their team in action four times over 11 days is a rare treat outside of a World Cup, Gold Cup or Copa Am\u00e9rica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>Next up for the home team is Chile, another hard-tackling South American foe that didn\u2019t qualify for this year\u2019s quadrennial soccer extravaganza. The window concludes with matches against Mexico next Saturday in Glendale, Arizona and on Oct. 6 vs. Canada in St. Paul, Minnesota.<\/p>\n\n--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BROWSE BY Inter&amp;Co Stadium (Orlando) \u2014 The U.S. men\u2019s national team\u2019s long road toward the 2030 World Cup is off to a winning start. In the USA\u2019s first match since being eliminated from the 2026 event by Belgium in the round of 16, the Stars and Stripes got goals from veterans Malik Tillman and Sebastian [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}