The Columbus Crew got a pleasant boost from their young talent while Toronto FC fought hard in defeat in the latest preseason match from MLS camps.
Playing a lineup of mostly draft picks and roster hopefuls, the Crew came away impressed with their emerging stars as they rolled to a 2-0 victory against the U.S U-17 national team on Thursday, while Toronto FC fell 2-1 to Odense BK after drawing with the Danish Superliga side earlier this week.
Columbus Crew 2, U.S. U-17 national team 0
Blessed with a spirited attack from recent SuperDraft and Supplemental draft picks, the Columbus Crew used goals from Corey Elenio and George Josten to put away the U.S. U-17 national team 2-0.
Columbus came out of the gate firing as Steven Lenhart set Elenio up for the Crew's first score in the fifth minute, freeing up the young midfielder for an easy score. Just 10 minutes later, Lukasz Tumicz found Lenhart on a connecting pass, who set up Josten streaking toward the net to give the Crew a 2-0 edge.
The Crew will play the final match of their Bradenton stay on Saturday when they take on the University of South Florida.
Crew: Kenny Schoeni, Ryan Miller, Zola Short, Ryan Junge, Tim Ward, Cory Elenio, Kevin Burns, Lukasz Tumicz, Andrew Peterson, Steven Lenhart (Adam Moffat 46), George Josten
Odense Boldklub 2, Toronto FC 1
After playing to a draw with Odense Boldklub in an exhibition earlier in the week, Toronto FC were not as fortunate Thursday, falling 2-1 to the Danish Superligaen side in a hard-fought match.
TFC played a vastly different lineup in their second matchup with Odense, as Josh Wagenaar saw his first action of the preseason in net for Toronto, playing all 90 minutes. Aside from conceding a goal to Jonas Borring when coming out to challenge in the 37th minute for Odense's opener, Wagenaar showed little rust in a strong showing behind the Reds' back line.
After Odense added a second goal in the 65th minute on a penalty kick on a hand ball, Toronto FC's offense kicked into gear, culminating in Andrea Lombardo's header into the net in the 80th minute off a feed from Tyler Rosenlund. Despite the loss, TFC head coach John Carver was happy with what he saw from his team.
"Ten days into preseason and we are exactly where I want to be," Carver said. "I thought it was a really tough game against a side who's just been knocked out of the UEFA Cup in Europe so it was a great test for us. It gave me an opportunity to see nearly every player we've got with us in the camp, and we were pleased with the effort."
Toronto FC: Josh Wagenaar, Todd Dunivant (Joey Melo 70), Tyrone Marshall (Marco Velez 46), Julius James (Andrew Boyens 82), Marvell Wynne (Tyler Hemming 76), Collin Samuel (Jamie Watson 76), Maurice Edu (Pat Phelan 54), Carl Robinson (Tyler Rosenlund 67), Ronnie O'Brien, Jeff Cunningham (Andrea Lombardo 67), Danny Dichio (Mike Zaher 46)
Rich Zuckerman is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
