U.S. under-17 men

Adu's late goal provides 2-1 triumph over Sierra Leone, ticket to world quarterfinals.

LAHTI, Finland (Sunday, August 17, 2003) -- The legend of Freddy Adu continues to grow.

The 14-year-old striker scored with a minute remaining in regulation, sending the United States to the FIFA Under-17 World Championship quarterfinals by defeating Sierra Leone 2-1 in a Group D game at Lahti Stadium this afternoon.

So, despite being outplayed for large portions of the match and being outshot 12-6, the U.S. (2-0, 6 points) advanced to the single-elimination portion of the tournament. Spain (1-0-1, 4) registered a 3-2 decision over South Korea (0-2, 0) in today's other Group D outing.

The Americans close group play Wednesday against Spain at 1 p.m. (ET), a meeting which will broadcast live by Spanish-language Galavision. The game is still important with the U.S. needing to win or tie to win Group D and therefore play the Group C runnerup in the quarterfinals. If the U.S. loses, it will face the Group C winner in the quarters.

"Sierra Leone was a handful today and I think we did well to get a win against such a strong side," U.S. coach John Ellinger said. "They had our backs up against the wall a lot of the time, but we were able to get the strike from Freddy at the end to make the difference. It's good to know we've advanced, but we still have to concentrate on Spain, which will be a tough test."

Adu's decisive tally made Sierra Leone (0-1-1, 1) pay for hammering him moments earlier, requiring he be carried off the field on a stretcher. Less than a minute earlier, he was cut down at the top of the Sierra Leone penalty area, bringing on calls for a penalty kick.

Goalkeeper Phil Marfuggi sent a goal kick over the center stripe where midfielder Eddie Gaven tried futilely to head it. The ball bounced once before forward Jamie Watson did get his head on it, nudging it into the path of Adu who was joining the play on the left side of midfield. Adu shielded the last defender, Umaru Bangura, before carrying to his left to avoid keeper Patrick Bantamoi and knocking a left-footer into the vacated net for a 2-1 lead in the 89th minute.

Adu, who is being courted by English power Manchester United, has four goals in two games here. "I learned how tough I can really be," he said. "Sometimes, I get hit all the time and I have to come out of games because it hurts so much and today was brutal. But, we just dug deep and worked through it and ended up getting the winning goal."

Otherwise, Marfuggi was the star of the match with 10 saves. Throughout most of the match, the U.S. was outgunned by Sierra Leone which was able to pressure down the flanks to knock in dangerous crosses into the box, as well as ripping numerous shots from outside the penalty area.

"We didn't play as well as we liked to, but obviously we got the job done and we got the win that we needed," Marfuggi said. "We're a team of fighters, so we did what we needed to get the result."

Sierra Leone went ahead 1-0 in the 32nd minute. U.S. defender Jonathan Spector attempted a slide tackle on midfielder Obi Metzgar as he brought the ball down the right sideline with the ball squirting to the end line. Metzger stayed on his feet, collected the ball and carried toward goal before slipping a low pass in to striker Alimamy Sesay who used his first touch to tuck the ball into the right corner of the net from close range.

"It was a tough game and was going back and forth," Watson said. "You can look at the stats and the possession could have said 99-to-1 for Sierra Leone, but weren't going to stop until the final whistle blew. That's what we said we were going to do at halftime. Any mistake they had. we were just going to pounce on them."

In the 42nd minute, U.S. defender Brandon Owens nearly had his second goal in two games after towering high for midfielder John DiRaimondo's corner kick and heading it toward the lower left corner. Bantamoi was up to the task and tipped it away.

Just before intermission, Adu lost the ball at the top of the Sierra Leone box and Gaven ran onto it. He moved alone into the left center of the box and Bantamoi, as he moved to get the ball, instead clipped Gaven's legs, bringing a penalty-kick call. Midfielder Guillermo Gonzalez finished the penalty into the lower left corner for a 1-1 tie in the 45th minute.

In the 76th minute, Adu nearly put the U.S. ahead, collecting the ball along the righ end line. He went around defender Lansana Bayoh, and curled the ball past Bantamoi, but defender Hassan Sesay cleared it off the goal line.

Sierra Leone then stepped up its pressure. In the 78th minute, substitute striker Sheriff Suma hit the crossbar after a nice touch from Alimamy Sesay at the top of the box. Two minutes later, Sesay missed wide right.

In the 83rd minute, Marfuggi came up with his biggest save when he knocked away Metzger's blast from the top of the box.

"I don't know if there are words to describe Phil's play in goal," Watson said. "Coach (Ellinger) told us we were going to create our own luck at halftime with hard work. I told Phil after the game that he created our luck because if he doesn't come up with those big saves, it could have easily been 3-1, 4-1, (for Sierra Leone) with 20 minutes left in the game. He definitely kept us in the game."

Adu picked up a yellow card for diving in the 84th minute. After his second caution in as many games, Adu will be suspended for a game should he receive a third card in this tournament.

Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan). Assistant referees: Mohamad Yacob (Malaysia), Mahbubur Rahman (Bangladesh). Attendance: 4,950 at Lahti (Finland) Stadium. Weather: Sunny, warm, 70 degrees.