U.S. U-17 Top Performers v. Canada (Semifinals)

The United States retained their perfect record with a two to zero win against Canada, beating them for the second time in this tournament. The United States played a dominant game where they had many chances in front of goal — this game could have easily been four or five to zero. The goals came from a beautiful [player_tooltip player_id='12547' first='Micah' last='Burton'] free kick and a late game tap-in from Keyrol Figueroa, who scored his seventh goal of the tournament. Figueroa is tied for the golden boot going into the final. He also broke the United States scoring record for this tournament, surpassing USMNT star, Gio Reyna. The United States get the final matchup we all wanted, Mexico, in what should be a great game. Here are my top performers on the night.   CB, [player_tooltip player_id='18318' first='Stuart' last='Hawkins'], Tacoma Defiance (Man of the match)   I thought both center-backs were excellent tonight, both defensively and in the build out. Hawkins was a welcome sight back into the starting eleven and played a very composed and intelligent game. He had several key interruptions to break up Canadian attacks and he was brilliant as a distributor out of the back, using both his left and right foot to spring attacks. Hawkins was communicating well, showing decisiveness and doing all of the things you look for in a modern day center-back.   CF, [player_tooltip player_id='12547' first='Micah' last='Burton'], Austin Academy   Burton has been playing better and better as the tournament has progressed. He really struggled in the first game when playing at left-wing, but has been a lot more impactful playing centrally. Burton had the play of the game on a beautifully curling free kick from about 25 yards out (see below). It was definitely one of the goals of the tournament so far. I was also impressed with his effort and timing in the press and counter press and I have appreciated his toughness all tournament.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/MenInBlazers/status/1629297266262417413?s=20 </div></figure>   CB, [player_tooltip player_id='10412' first='Tyler' last='Hall'], Inter Miami Academy   Hall was about as good as Hawkins was in this game — both center-backs were really on-point. Hall was a little bit better as a passer, delivering more decisive line breaking passes, while Hawkins was more disruptive defensively. Hall has been steady and assured all tournament and his passing has been even better than what I have seen in the past. He is a true leader on this team and he and Hawkins should be the center-back pairing on Sunday against Mexico.

The United States retained their perfect record with a two to zero win against Canada, beating them for the second time in this tournament. The United States played a dominant game where they had many chances in front of goal — this game could have easily been four or five to zero. The goals came from a beautiful Micah Burton Micah Burton M State TX free kick and a late game tap-in from Keyrol Figueroa, who scored his seventh goal of the tournament. Figueroa is tied for the golden boot going into the final. He also broke the United States scoring record for this tournament, surpassing USMNT star, Gio Reyna. The United States get the final matchup we all wanted, Mexico, in what should be a great game. Here are my top performers on the night.