Carpinteria’s Johnny Requejo started and played 85 minutes for the new group that makes up the U.S. under-17 national soccer team in an international friendly against France on Wednesday in Lakewood Ranch. Fla.
The U.S. and France played to a 2-2 tie.
Requejo, who led Carpinteria High to the CIF Division 5 final last season as a freshman center midfielder, was called into the U.S. residency camp in Florida during the summer. He is playing as a left-sided defender.
“It’s an excellent game for the boys to experience against one of the top teams around the world,” said U.S. coach Wilmer Cabrera. “France is an excellent team with great players, technically very good, strong, and athletic. We tried to face them at the same level, and I think it was an exciting game. We never gave up, and that is a quality that the American teams always have. We tried to play soccer and find a way to tie, and to win. Obviously we need to improve a lot of things, but to have a reference point like a team like France is important for us. Our team needs to see that we can compete with a team like this.”
Requejo and the U.S. squad will next face Turkey on Friday at 2 p.m. PST. The match will be shown live on Fox Soccer Channel.
Turkey lost to Brazil in an earlier match Wednesday at the Premier Sports Campus in Florida.
