The USA Youth (U19) Team opens play today with what is likely to be a pivotal match vs hosts Chile. Pivotal, because Chile and the U.S., on paper, appear to be the 2 teams in Group B with the best chance to finish in 2nd place behind regional power, Brazil. And a 2nd place finish in group play will result in a spot in the tournament semifinals and qualification for the World Junior Championships later this summer in Georgia.
The U.S. roster is a mix of dual citizens who learned to play the sport in Europe and U.S. based players. The dual citizen contingent features 5 Germans, 1 Swede, 1 Dane and 1 Bosnian while the U.S. contingent consists of 5 athletes from Craig Rot’s Chicago area program, 1 athlete from San Francisco and 1 athlete from Texas A&M. Sure to play a big role our 3 holdovers from the recent Junior (U21) Championship. Rene Ingram will be back in goal and back on the will be Amar Amitovic and Paul Skorupa. All 3 will surely be keen on avenging the bronze medal loss to Chile.
Tonight’s game is at 2030 (Local) and 1930 (EDST). A live stream should be available for viewing here: Link
Competition website: Link