Sporting KC Homegrown defender Erik Palmer-Brown captained the United States Under-20 National Team in their comfortable 4-1 win over Saint Kitts & Nevis in the CONCACAF U-20 Championship. Palmer-Brown completed 88% of his passes (30 of 34) and had one shot on goal in his third consecutive start for the U.S. U-20s.
The United States dominated the match with 63% of possession, 28 to three shot advantage, and four-goal lead by halftime. Brooks Lennon opened the scoring in the 16th minute after finishing a Jeremy Ebobisse pass into the six-yard box. Lennon leads the U.S. U-20s with four goals in the tournament.
The momentum continued four minutes later when Jonathan Lewis pounced on a deflected ball in the box following a U.S. corner kick. The U.S. closed out the half with a pair of goals from Sebastian Saucedo. First, Saucedo sent a well-placed shot low and just inside the near post past the diving goalkeeper to make it 3-0, and then followed it up with a wondrous free-kick in the 41st minute. The scoreline remained 4-0 until Saint Kitts & Nevis avoided the shutout with a Romario Martin 77th goal.
The U.S. now advances to the classification stage (two groups of three teams) where they'll face Mexico (March 1) and El Salvador (March 3). The top two teams from both groups will qualify for the 2017 FIFA Under-20 World Cup, while the top team in each group will advance to the CONCACAF Championship Final on March 5.
