Wednesday, March 11, 2009

FC Dallas developmental players contribute to U-20 U.S. National Team’s World Cup berth

By Erin Rice

A couple of the younger stable of players for FC Dallas made a big impact on Tuesday as the U-20 U.S. Men's National Team took down El Salvador to clinch a spot in the upcoming U-20 World Cup.

fc.dallas.mlsnet

Brek Shea

Scoring in the 30th minute was Brek Shea, a Generation Adidas player on FCD's developmental roster. At 19 years old, Shea has been with the club for one season thus far, getting his first bit of MLS playing time on April 20 as a sub for Blake Wagner. The midfielder/defender also received his first yellow card four minutes after stepping on the pitch. Ironically, Shea received two yellow cards in Tuesday's match, resulting in his ejection from the game.

Just ten minutes later, the U.S. scored again, with Tony Taylor picking up the goal on a Peri Marosevic assist. Marosevic was FC Dallas' first-round 2009 MLS Superdraft pick. Born in Boznia/Herzegovina, he scored 24 goals and had seven assists in just three seasons at the University of Michigan. Marosevic is also a Generation Adidas player.

A tough game on both sides, the U.S. and El Salvador combined for 44 fouls. After going down to 10 men following Shea's ejection in the 60th minute, Jorge Flores for the U.S. was sent off in the 84th minute. They finished out the game with four midfielders and four defenders, but held on for the 2-0 win and a World Cup berth.

The 2009 U-20 World Cup will be hosted by Egypt and features 24 nations vying for an international title. Typically hosted in the summer, FIFA has pushed this year's contest back to the end of the year to avoid conflict with the Confederations Cup, a precursor to the 2010 big boy World Cup.

Josh Lambo, a goalkeeper on the FCD developmental roster, was also on the U.S. lineup but did not receive playing time Tuesday.

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