In a wild match that included leads for both sides, the United States Under-17 national team played the host nation to a 2-2 draw in Group A on Sunday night in the 2015 CONCACAF U-17 Championship at the Estadio Francisco Morazan in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
After falling behind early, Luca de la Torre and Josh Perez tallied goals to give the US a 2-1 lead heading into halftime. But in the closing minutes, Honduras' David Sanchez salvaged an equalizer and kept alive the battle for the group lead – and an automatic bid to the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile.
Shortly after the tying goal, Honduras' Jorge Alvarez was shown a straight red card for fouling US forward Brandon Vazquez. However, the US were unable to capitalize on the subsequent free kick, and the match ended in a stalemate.
With the draw, the US (3-0-1, 10 points) maintain their two-point advantage over Honduras (2-0-2, 8 points) in the Group A standings. The US wrap up the group stage against Jamaica at 7 pm ET on Wednesday, March 11, at Estadio Francisco Morazan (FOXSports 2, Univision Deportes).
A victory against Jamaica would give the US first place in the group, which carries an automatic berth in the U-17 World Cup. A draw also could potentially be enough for the US to advance even if Honduras win their final match against Guatemala, so long as the US maintain their considerable advantage in goal differential (+10 to +4).
