Last night’s City feature matchup in East Hartford, Connecticut between Ben Sweat’s USA and Alexander Callens’ Peru was the capstone match to a busy international break for your Boys in Blue. Let’s take a quick spin around the globe before we get back to Major League Soccer action this weekend.
Ben Sweat
Ben Sweat joined his first USMNT camp during this international break, earning his first cap in front of family and friends in the 2-4 loss to Colombia on October 11, coming on as a 75th minute substitute for Antonee Robinson.
Sweat took the next step last night, earning a start and going 90 minutes in solid 1-1 result for this very young iteration of the U.S. Men’s National Team.
Sweat told WADO’s Roberto Abramowitz: “I think everybody had a phenomenal second half. Once we got into the game we played pretty good football. We got some good buildup. The passes, the touches it was all sharper as the game went on.”
The NYC defender is confident of building upon this first experience with the national team:
“I think I earned the guys’ respect and my spot within the group. I made a positive impact and got better day in and day out. I had a pretty good debut, trainings after that were good and I made a positive impact tonight.”
Joe Scally
Ben Sweat wasn’t the only one sporting the Stars n’ Stripes over the break…
NYCFC Homegrown Joe Scally had a fantastic run with the U-17 Men’s National Team – helping lead them to a second place finish in the tournament featuring England, USA, Brazil, and Russia.
NYCFC Academy's Andres Jasson and Tayvon Gray also earned starts in the win vs. Brazil and gained valuable experience overseas.
Scally’s winner from the penalty spot in the 85th minute vs. Brazil was certainly a highlight for the Young Yanks, but the New York native contributed positively across the board, also earning an assist vs. England and leading the squad to a total of six points on the trip.
Next up for the U-17’s, the Nike Friendlies…
Ronald Matarrita
Our guy Mata made his long awaited return to the Costa Rica National Team after missing out on last summer’s World Cup with an injury.
He came on in the 67th minute of a 2-3 loss to Mexico in a friendly on October 11, before earning the start vs. Colombia in Harrison, NJ.
Great to see Ronald back where he belongs!
Alexander Callens
After signing his extension with NYCFC, the Iron Man made his long awaited return to the Peruvian national team – making the bench for the friendly 3-0 victory over Chile before earning the start and going the full 90 vs. friend turned foe (for the night) Ben Sweat.
Maxime Chanot
Big Max was back leading Luxembourg in their UEFA Nations League bid, where they bounced back from a 1-0 loss to Belarus on October 12th by defeating 10-man San Marino on Monday.
Chanot went 90 minutes in both matches.
Ismael Tajouri-Shradi
Isi was back with the Libya national team this international break for two matches of African Cup of Nations qualifying vs. Nigeria. Libya lost both matches – dropping a 4-0 result on October 13 before almost getting revenge in a 2-3 loss on October 16.
NYCFC’s second leading scorer earned starts in both matches.
Jesus Medina
Finally, Jesus Medina joined up with Paraguay for a national team training camp in Ciudad del Este.
All returning internationals are back healthy and ready for the final push!
Let's get it...
