The U.S. U-23 National Team took its first steps on the Road to Rio Thursday night in the first match of the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament, getting two goals from Jordan Morris before Real Salt Lake midfielder Luis Gil iced the game with a penalty in a 3-1 win over Canada at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kansas.
Morris scored in the opening minute, heading in a cross from Jerome Keisewetter, and that 1-0 score held until well into the second half.
Gil entered the match in the 72nd minute as the second sub by Head Coach Andi Herzog and within a minute, the lead leapt to 2-0. For his second goal of the night, Morris ran onto a long ball from Wil Trapp, held off his defender and put it past the keeper.
Canada pulled a goal back in the 81st minute when Michael Petrasso headed in a corner kick, but the threat of a comeback was halted in stoppage time when Canada was whistled for a foul in the box. Gil hammered his shot to the keeper’s left while he guessed to the right and the U.S. took a 3-1 lead that would not be relinquished.
“That’s the way you want to start the tournament off, is with a win,” Gil said in an interview with CONCACAF after the match. “It wasn’t the ideal way, not the way we wanted to play. Sometimes it’s going to be ugly, but we got the win. We have a lot of stuff to work on. I don’t feel like this was our best – not even close. So we have a lot of work to do and we look forward to the next game.”
Along with Gil, RSL defender Boyd Okwuonu subbed on in the 87th minute and helped preserve the victory.
The next match in Group A action will be Saturday against Cuba at Sporting Park. The semifinal and final rounds of the tournament will be at Rio Tinto Stadium on October 10 and 13.
