KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent and the Grenadines—It was a spectacular night for Philadelphia Union II striker Malik Jakupovic as he scored five goals and had one assist for the United States U-17 Men’s National Team in their 10-0 rout of St. Kitts and Nevis.
After defeating St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Thursday 8-0, the USA was looking to maintain their grasp of Group E after the Dominican Republic won their second game, leaving them with a +15 goal differential (and none conceded). After their victory over SKN, the USA sits atop Group E with two wins and a +18 goal differential.
The starting lineup featured Jakupovic, who would go the full 90 minutes, as well as the other Philadelphia representative, goalkeeper Matthew White, who made his debut for the tournament. Jakupovic proved to be like a shark who smelled blood in the water, and continued to impress with his finishing ability—something followers of Union II and the Academy had seen many times. White, of the Union Academy, saw little action in the very one-sided match, but made the few necessary plays with ease.
Also in the lineup were Eddie Chadwick, Tyson Espy, Landry Walker, Myles Gardner, Vicente Garcia, Daniel Barrett, Astin Mbaye, Roko Pehar, and Mattheo Dimareli.
The first goal of the evening came in the 7th minute, courtesy of a great cross by Gardner that Jakupovic ran onto and blasted into the back of the net. Jakupovic followed that up in the 23rd minute after receiving a long ball from Dimareli that he sent low and to the left of the keeper.
The USA got their third goal after Garcia was fouled in the box, setting up the first of three penalties on the night, which he buried.
As the first half was winding down, Jakupovic took a through ball from Gardner to the right side of the box, dodged a defender, and shot into the left side of the net off the hands of the keeper to make it a first-half hat trick in the 44th minute.
No changes were made at the start of the second half to the USA’s lineup, and the squad picked up right where they left off as the offense continued to dominate. The SKN goalkeeper, who had been subbed on during the second half, took down Dimareli, who was awarded a penalty kick that he converted in the 57th minute to make it 5-0. Chadwick followed in the 69th minute with a header for a goal after the captain, Mbaye, sent the ball in on goal.
Dimareli got his brace in the 72nd minute when Jakupovic crossed the ball to the back post, and the former tapped it home. Jakupovic was far from done, as he converted on the third PK of the night after a handball was committed in the box in the 80th minute, and then scored his fifth goal four minutes later after a pass from Will Ostrander. Capping off the match, Prince Forfor, who had come off the bench, took a Chadwick pass and scored in the 90th minute via a shot that ricocheted off the post and went in, leading to the final score of 10-0 with the USA outshooting their opponent 41-1 with 78 percent possession.
It was a dazzling display of offense for the U-17s, put them in a position to only need at least a draw against the Dominican Republic to clinch a U-17 World Cup berth. The two teams will face off on Tuesday at 1:00 PM (FS2). Follow us on our socials for updates as we will be covering that match, as well as the Union Academy in the Snow Bowl at WSFS Bank Sportsplex.
Main article photo courtesy of US Soccer.
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