While it was UCLA midfielder Sal Zizzo who shined for the U.S. in the group stage of the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, in the Round of 16 it was all about goalkeeper Brian Perk.
Perk, the likely starter for next year’s UCLA team, got his first appearance in the competition when regular starter Chris Seitz had to miss the game with an injury.
He made his opportunity count. The sophomore made seven saves ““ three in overtime ““ to help his team to a 2-1 victory over Uruguay. It was Perk’s only start of the tournament, as Seitz returned from injury in the team’s quarterfinal loss to Austria.
“There were some shaky moments during the game,” Perk told ussoccer.com. “But once we got into overtime I felt really confident. I had made some decent saves up to that point. Uruguay took it to us, but our defenders were able to stick together and we pulled it out as a team.”
After the match Perk was named the Sierra Mist Man of the Match by U.S. Soccer.
Perk joined fellow Bruins Zizzo and Tony Beltran, who had already made stellar contributions to the team in the group stage of the tournament.
The win was not easy for the U.S., which went down 1-0 to Uruguay in the 73rd minute when Edinson Cavani found the back of the net with a header. The Americans were able to answer back by pressuring Uruguayan defender Mathias Cardaccio into an own goal.
After a header by Uruguay’s Manuel Diaz hit the post as time expired, and the first overtime period came and went with the game still even, the Americans finally broke the deadlock. On a Freddy Adu corner kick, Julian Valentin found Michael Bradley at the far post for the winning goal.
In the U.S.’s next match against Austria, a recovered Seitz was back in the net. Though leading 1-0 for most of the first half, the U.S. would let up a goal before the half, and then lose in overtime, falling 2-1.
FORMER BRUINS FILL THE ALL-STAR RANKS: When the MLS All-Star game takes place on July 19 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo., it will almost be a reunion for UCLA soccer. The roster chosen to take on Celtic FC in the friendly includes five former Bruins with a fair amount of overlap in their college days.
Former teammates Jimmy Conrad (’96-’97) and Matt Reis (’94-’97) both made it onto the starting lineup for the match, along with the more recent Bruin Jonathan Bornstein (’04-’05).
Conrad is a current regular on the U.S. national team, appearing in the 2006 World Cup, and in 2005 he won MLS Defender of the Year honors for his play with the Kansas City Wizards. This selection marks his fourth consecutive All-Star appearance.
The younger Bornstein, a defender with Chivas USA, will make his first appearance in the All-Star game. A season ago, Bornstein led all rookies in scoring, with six goals, and was named the MLS Gatorade Rookie of the Year. Most recently he has turned himself into a mainstay on the U.S. national team, and played a significant role in the U.S.’s Gold Cup victory in June.
Joining the starters will be reserves Kevin Hartman (’95-’96) and Cobi Jones (’88-’91), who is in the middle of his 12th and final season in the league. Jones, an American soccer legend making his ninth All-Star appearance, is the only player in the history of the league to play that many seasons with the same team.
Also on the roster is midfielder Dwayne De Rosario of the Houston Dynamo, who scored the decisive goal against Chelsea in last year’s All-Star game to give the American side a 1-0 victory.
This year’s game will be televised on ESPN2 and Telefutura beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday.