Josh Sargent scored on his debut as a youthful United States side beat Bolivia 3-0 in an international friendly in Chester, Pennsylvania on Monday.
Sargent became the fourth-youngest American to score, making an audacious interception of a goalkeeper’s pass over his head to put the ball into the net in his international debut at just 18 years, 102 days.authentic nfl jerseys cheap
Tim Weah, two days younger than Sargent, got his first goal seven minutes later.
“It’s great feeling both of us getting to do this together,” Sargent said.
Walker Zimmerman, a relative veteran at 25 but making just his third international appearance, put the Americans ahead in the 37th minute with his first international goal — a header from Joe Corona’s corner kick. Sargent doubled the lead in the 52nd.
“We’ve come such a long way,” said Weah, a son of former FIFA Player of the Year and current Liberia President George Weah. “We just want to impress our fans. We just want to play with our hearts.”
Christian Pulisic struggled to make sharp touches in his first national team match since the loss at Trinidad and Tobago last October that ended the U.S. streak of seven consecutive World Cup appearances.
Interim U.S. coach Dave Sarachan gave six players their debuts, raising the total to 15 in four matches since he took over after the loss in Trinidad. Defenders Erik Palmer-Brown and Antonee Robinson and goalkeeper Alex Bono joined Sargent as debutants in the starting lineup, and defender Matt Olosunde and midfielder Keaton Parks entered in the second half.
The U.S. starting lineup averaged 22 years, 160 days, and 6.7 international appearances. Fans always have sky-high hopes prospects will become stars, and Sargent and Weah raised the anticipation even higher.nfl jerseys for cheap
“They’re reading a lot about themselves and so on,” Sarachan said. “They’re still steps. If you want to get to A, you still start at D and then to C, then to B. We’re very quick to jump them up into the A category. I think that’s a process that we have to manage, with expectations, with a lot of noise on the outside.”