Nielsen and the Houston Dynamo ended up in third place in Group T with a win, a tie and a loss. He typically plays with their U14 team, but was pulled two age groups up and responded well, showing quality between the posts and a fantastic personality to lead the defensive system. A very tall goalkeeper, Nielsen handles crosses very well, but is also very quick to get to the ground to make stops. He reads the game incredibly well and organizes everything from the back, determining players’ positionings in attacking and defending set pieces and barking instrucitions the entire time.

Even conceding four goals, Nielsen was still the Dynamo’s most impressive player in the match. The goalkeeper wasn’t at fault for any of them, and was constantly exposed and avoided an even larger upset with some really big saves. Nielsen did very well at diving into a forward’s feet in the first half and made a couple of impressive 1v1 stops in the second part of the match, using his impressive wingspan to take up space from opponents as they finished. The goalkeeper was also a vocal leader for his team, keeping communication active until the last minute and sharing interesting information with his teammates.

Nielsen was the starting goalkeeper for the Houston Dynamo team that finished second in the U14 Supergroup division with a campaign of three wins and three ties – he also played for their U15 team that won their Supergroup. He only conceded three goals in six matches over the tournament and displayed tremendous potential as a shot-stopper. Nielsen is very tall, knows how to use his length to make it hard for opponents to score on him, and is a very technical goalkeeper who rarely gives up a rebound or picks the wrong option to make a stop. He’s also an extremely vocal leader who communicates with his teammates the entire time and shows great understanding of the game to give instructions.