The entirety of the U.S. men's national team's January camp clash with Costa Rica can be narrowed down to one moment.
Just a few minutes into the second half, the U.S. earned a penalty, and it was a deserved break. The U.S., featuring it's youngest ever January camp lineup, played fairly well in the first half, going toe-to-toe with a Costa Rica team featuring more than a few MLS and even World Cup veterans.
The moment that Reggie Cannon was dragged down in the box, Ulysses Llanez stepped up. The Wolfsburg attacker was the youngest member of the U.S. starting lineup and, at just 18-years-old, making his first USMNT appearances. Despite that, Llanez stepped up and buried the spot kick, making it 1-0 while becoming the first teenager to score a penalty kick for the USMNT in the modern era.
Call it youthful exuberance. Call it confidence, cockiness or ignorance. Call it meaningless or trivial because of the setting. Regardless, Llanez showed something in that moment, and these U.S. youngsters showed something on this day.
The U.S. lineup featured six players eligible for the upcoming Olympic qualifying tournament in March. It featured four players under 20 years old and an average age of 23. In fact, it was the youngest January camp lineup ever, and that's saying something considering the usually-limited player pool that comes to these matches.
Contrast that with Costa Rica's squad. A total of five players in Los Ticos' starting XI have been to a World Cup. Marco Urena, Yeltsin Tejeda and Giancarlo Gonzalez have been to two. No, this wasn't a full-strength Costa Rican team, but there were real pros standing across from the U.S. on Saturday.
And the young U.S. team went to-to-toe with them. There were nervy moments, sure, including a chance in the first half that rattled off Sean Johnson's crossbar. There were moments where the U.S. lacked that final ball, despite all of their energy and creativity. It wasn't a perfect performance by any stretch of the imagination, but there were things you can take away.
You can take away that Llanez is getting closer and closer to becoming a heck of a player. The Wolfsburg winger combined wonderfully with fellow debutant Sam Vines, who made a good case for a starting role with the Olympic team. Llanez may be a step away from Wolfsburg's senior team but, like several other Bundesliga-bound American youngsters before him, there's reason to believe he can take it.
Llanez also worked well with Jesus Ferreira, who was able to drift into space throughout his USMNT debut. Ferreira, who was approved to join the U.S. program on Friday, broke out in a major way with FC Dallas last season and, at 19, it's easy to see that his next step could be a big one.
“I thought Jesus Ferreira was excellent in dropping into that hole and really making the game, connecting, opening things up," said USMNT general manager Brian McBride at half time. "They realized it, they condensed the space, and then we started going wide.”
Some veterans showed well, too. Aaron Long had another good showing despite the recent rumors linking him with a move to Europe. That move never came to fruition, but Long showed he's still very much in contention for a starting spot for this national team. Sebastian Lleget and Paul Arriola looked fine as well, although they face a fight for minutes when the full-strength team is in camp.
But this wasn't a match for the USMNT but rather those that hope to be there in the future. It was a match for the Olympic-eligible options that face a monumental task going forward. The U.S. hasn't qualified for the Olympics since 2008, and it's easy to correlate those Olympic failures with the massive 2018 World Cup disaster that still looms over all of this.
That's for another day, though. This one wasn't perfect and it wasn't pretty, but if there's anything to take away from Saturday's effort, it's that these kids may not be kids for much longer.
