New York product Gabriel Ferrari and Freddy Adu again provided the goals as the U.S. U-20 national team beat Haiti, 2-1, on Wednesday in Frisco, Texas.
Three days earlier, Ferrari, who joined Italian Serie A club Sampdoria in January, had scored twice and Adu struck once in the U-20s’ 3-2 win over SMU.
Against Haiti, Adu opened the scoring by converting a penalty kick after he drew the foul. Ferrari struck the gamewinner on assists from Dax McCarty and Tim Ward.
New York-born Ferrari, whose father is Italian-American and whose mother hails from Brazil, played youth club ball for BW Gottschee in Queens and later for the Red Bulls/MetroStars youth program.
“First of all, just to get called up [to the U.S. U-20 team] it was kind of like a dream come true because it hadn’t happened before,” Ferrari, who also has an Italian passport, told Topdrawersoccer.com. “It was so nice. … The Italian U19 team called me up for camp as well and there was a question if I would hold some grudge against the United States for not noticing me or this or that, but in the long run the past is the past. I even think maybe I wasn’t ready before, but I’m ready now and let’s just go forward.”
The USA will compete at the Under-20 World Cup in Canada this summer.
March 28 in Frisco, Texas
USA 2 Haiti 1. Goals: Adu (penalty) 55, Ferrari (McCarty) 91+; Eliphene 75.
USA — Seitz, Igwe (LaBauex, 89), Sarkodie, Wallace, Ward, Rogers (Wagner, 74), Szetela (Anibaba, 83), Adu, Zizzo (McCarty, 75), Altidore (Beltran, 71), Ferrari.
Haiti – Gabare, Olrish, Fellinga, Raymond (Frantz, 58), Stephane, Marcelin (Mones), Roland (Brunel, 65), Sony, Wadson (Vubert, 64), Velten (Boucicaut, 75), Fabrice (Eliphene, 71).