Indiana University Athletics
Peterson Making U-20 Impact (1-4-05)
1/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
"It is a tribute to Jacob and his ability," Indiana head coach Mike Freitag said of his leading scorer. "He is one of the outstanding young forwards in the country. We are proud of what he does here at Indiana, and glad that he gets the opportunity to play for his country."
Head coach Sigi Schmid will selected his final 18-player roster before the U.S. competes in Group A of the CONCACAF Under-20 Qualifying Tournament held at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., from Jan. 12-16. The U.S. Under-20 team will look to qualify for its fifth consecutive FIFA World Youth Soccer Championship. The World Youth Championship will be held in Holland from June 10-July 2.
The United States is joined in Group A with Costa Rica, Panama and Trinidad & Tobago. The top two finishers from the group advance to the FIFA World Youth Championship. The U.S. will open with Trinidad & Tobago in the CONCACAF Qualifying Tournament on Wednesday, Jan. 12 at 8:00 p.m. PT. Next for the U.S. will be Panama on Friday, Jan. 14 at 8:00 p.m. PT followed by a Sunday, Jan. 16, match against Costa Rica at 2:30 p.m. PT. All three games can be followed on the ussoccer.com's Match Tracker, presented by Philips Electronics.
Tickets for the event are available at ussoccer.com, Ticketmaster ticket centers in Southern California (including Robinson's-May, Wherehouse Music and Tower Records), by calling 213-480-3232 (Los Angeles), 714-740-2000 (Orange County) or 619-220-8497 (San Diego) and at The Home Depot Center ticket office. Tickets range in price from $10 to $24. Groups of 20 or more can call U.S. Soccer at 312-528-1290.
Peterson enjoyed an exceptional training camp following the Hoosiers' run to the national title. After the Hoosiers won back-to-back NCAA titles in mid-December, the Portage, Mich., native stayed over in California to participate in his second training camp in as many months with the Under-20s.
He participated in the first U.S. U-20 MNT training camp under Sigi Schmid. The camp was in November in Fort Launderdale, Fla. The U.S. picked up wins over Honduras (2-0) and Mexico (2-1). Peterson was set to start the Honduras match, but sustained an injury that prevented him from playing. He returned to Bloomington as a precaution in preparation for the Hoosiers' run to the national title.
In the second training camp, Dec. 12-23, at the Home Depot Center in Carson Calif., Peterson showcased his talents. Peterson notched a pair of game-winning goals for one of the U.S. Under-20 split squads. A total of 30 players entered the training camp, and those 30 were split into two teams that played a pair of friendly matches. He notched game-winners against Necaxa, a Mexican first division club team, on Dec. 18 and Canada on Dec. 20.
Peterson broke a 1-1 tie in the 75th minute with a goal against Necaxa, who was training in the area during their preseason. Seton Hall's Sacha Kljestan played a give-and-go with Boston College's Charlie Davies getting the ball on the right side of the penalty area. Kljestan dribbled past one defender before crossing the ball in front of the goal. The goalkeeper got a hand to it, but it went over his head. Peterson was there to knock it home from six feet out.
The Hoosier forward also notched an assist on the first U.S. goal of the match. A minute before halftime, Kljestan scored on a creative pass from Peterson. Freddy Adu started the attack on the right flank, pushing the ball a bit to his left for Kljestan, who quickly knocked it forward to Peterson near the top of the box. Instead of stopping the ball, Peterson rolled the ball straight behind him with his cleats and Kljestan blew past the Necaxa defenders, burying the ball past the goalkeeper.
Necaxa found the equalizer in the 70th minute as Da Costa Fabiano got free behind the U.S. defense and placed his shot into the lower right corner past U.S. goalkeeper Quentin Westberg.
On Dec. 20 against Canada, Peterson struck again this time in the first half. He registered the winning goal in the 22nd minute. Virginia's Hunter Freeman curled a cross to the penalty area and Peterson one-timed it into the right side of the net.
The U.S. Under-20 National team will hold its final training camp before the CONCACAF Qualifying Tournament at the Home Depot Center. The camp began on Jan. 2 and will run until the tournament.
