Galaxy defender Julian Valentin started and played the full 90 minutes in central defense as the U.S. Under-23s fell to Turkey 3-2 this morning at the Toulon International Tournament in France.
The LA rookie almost helped earn a share of the points late on as his long ball picked out Brek Shea who got himself into a dangerous position, only to be pulled back by a Turkish defender. However, the referee did not see it that way and the Turks were able to hold on for a win in the tournament opener for both sides.
Bryan Jordan and Michael Gavin were both on the bench for the match but were not used by head coach Peter Nowak.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Valentin Plays 90
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2 comments:
Valentin was by miles the best defender of a shambolic US Defense.
Why is he wearing that headprotection thing btw ?
In the first half, the Turkish U-23 team was the more harder / dominant team. The Turkish team kept putting our US U-23 players under constant pressure (both in the 1st & 2nd Half). Julian was doing a good, steady job at spanning across the defensive back-line (left, center, and right) to act as ball defelctor and ball winner, at times. I think he had to do this to allow more defensive linesmen (like Jonathen Leathers & Tony Beltran) to take part in the wing-side attack. But, where US U-23 came up short was the midfield posession and penetration into the Turkish last third of the field. It seemed that Kamani Hill was way over-worked - he was the one doing so much controlling and winning in the midfield. I also that Sammy Ochoa played some good aggressive soccer as well. I really hope that Peter Nowak and his assistants tooka away some very good performance notes and gaps. Because, it's only going to get more fast-paced. US was indeed quite lucky to come away from it with a score of 3 - 2. Play hard, guys - Love this sport!!!
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