U.S. Beach Soccer Men’s National Team Finished Third At 2023 Acapulco Cup
USBMNT Led the Field in Total Goals with 14; Eight Players Scored, Alessandro Canale and Gabriel Silveira Tied for 2nd Overall With Three Each
ACAPULCO, Mexico (April 16, 2023) – The U.S. Beach Soccer Men’s National Team finished third at the inaugural Acapulco Beach Soccer Cup this weekend in the tournament held at Arena GNP Seguros. The USA fell to eventual winner Colombia on opening night 6-4, rebound to defeat Saudi Arabai 7-3 on Saturday evening, but fell to hosts, Mexico 4-3 in hard-fought match Sunday night.
The U.S. was the top scoring team in the tournament with 14 goals, with eight players scoring. Alessandro Canale and Gabriel Silveira tied for second most goals with three each, while Antonio Chavez and Andres Navas each scored twice, and Nico Perea, Chris Albiston, Cody Varcarcel and Chris Toth added one apiece.
Colombia and Mexico finished tied with 6 points each, but Colombia claimed the trophy with its 4-3 win over the hosts Saturday night.
| 2023 Acapulco Beach Soccer Cup - Mexico | ||||||||
| Team | GP | W | W+ | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts. |
| Colombia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 10 | + 2 | 6 |
| Mexico | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 8 | + 5 | 6 |
| USA | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 13 | + 1 | 3 |
| Saudi Arabia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 17 | - 8 | 3 |
APR 14:
USA 4-6 COL
KSA 2-7 MEX
APR 15:
USA 7-3 KSA
MEX 3-4 COL
APR 16:
COL 3-4 KSA
USA 3-4 MEX
A week after sweeping three games to win the ANOC (Association of National Olympic Committees’) World Beach Games Qualifiers in El Salvador, the MNT began the friendly Acapulco Cup tournament with a formidable opponent in Colombia, which last month qualified for the 2023 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup from South America alongside Brazil and Argentina. The Cafeteros jumped to a 4-2 lead in the first, and while the rest of the match was even the USA could not cut down the deficit in the teams’ first meeting since October 2017, when the USA won 4-2 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Chris Albiston opened the scoring for the USA for the third time in the last four games.
The USA then defeated Saudi Arabia in the first-ever meeting between two sides, and fell to Mexico on Sunday night after conceding four goals in the final period as the regional rivalry on sand continues to flip. The USA had defeated Mexico last time out at the 2021 Concacaf Championship to earn a spot at the 2021 World Cup.
Canale finished the two-tournament camp with seven combined goals, followed by Silveira who scored seven over the two weeks.
Following the tournament in El Salvador, the USA dropped Conner Rezende and Lukas Holocher to meet the 10-player roster limit in Acapulco.
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USA Game-by-Game Capsules:
APRIL 14: USA 4-6 COLOMBIA (MATCH 1)
Scoring Summary: 1 2 3 F
USA 2 0 2 4
COL 4 0 2 6
COL - Alejandro Quintero 9:26 (1st Period)
COL - Julio Pantoja 7:25 (1st)
USA - Chris Albiston 4:29 (1st)
COL - Juan Ossa 1:57 (1st)
USA - Andres Navas (pk) :50 (1st)
COL - Wilson Cordoba :23 (1st)
COL - Victor Morales 9:37 (3rd)
COL - Wilson Cordoba 8:34 (3rd)
USA - Alessandro Canale (Perea) 4:04 (3rd)
USA - Gabriel Silveira 1:27 (3rd)
Lineups:
USA: 12-Chris Toth (Captain), 5-Nicolas Perea, 7-Chris Albiston, 9-Alessandro Canale, 10-Gabriel Silveira
Substitutes: 2-Alvaro Franco, 3-Antonio Chavez, 6-Cody Valrcarcel, 11-Andres Navas
Did not Play: 1-Auston Collier
Head coach: Francis Farberoff
COL: 12-Alejandro Quintero, 2-Wilson Cordoba, 7-Rafael Acosta, 9-Victor Morales, 1-Juan Ossa
Substitutes: 1-Andres Ardila, 4-Andres Rueda, 5-Eduardo Escalante, 6-Kevin Ruiz, 11-Julio Pantoja
Head coach: Santiago Alzate
Misconduct Summary:
None
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APRIL 15: USA 7-3 SAUDI ARABIA (MATCH 2)
Scoring Summary: 1 2 3 F
USA 2 1 4 7
KSA 0 2 1 3
USA - Antonio Chavez (Navas) 6:56 (1st Period)
USA - Andres Navas (Valcarcel) 4:55 (1st)
KSA - Waleed Alyoubi 7:50 (2nd) - Collier
KSA - Ramzi Dakman 3:36 (2nd) - Collier
USA - Antonio Chavez 2:31 (2nd)
KSA - Waleed Alyoubi 10:53 (3rd)
USA - Alessandro Canale (Albiston) 9:46 (3rd)
USA - Nicolas Perea (Canale) 7:38 (3rd)
USA - Cody Valcarcel (Chavez) 5:43 (3rd)
USA - Gabriel Silveira 3:35 (3rd)
Lineups:
USA: 12-Chris Toth (Captain), 5-Nicolas Perea, 7-Chris Albiston, 9-Alessandro Canale, 10-Gabriel Silveira
Substitutes: 1-AustIn Collier, 2-Alvaro Franco, 3-Antonio Chavez, 6-Cody Valrcarcel, 11-Andres Navas
Did not Play: none
Head coach: Francis Farberoff
KSA: 22-Mohammed Alajmi, 3-Belal Bawdah, 4-Ahmed Alhamami, 7-Ramzi Dakman (captain), 8-Waleed Alyoubi
Substitutes: 1-Alwaleed Safhi, 5-Mohammed Alshammari, 9-Naif Yakl, 10-Omar Kark
Head coach: Gustavo Henrique Silva
Misconduct Summary:
KSA - Waleed Alyoubi (caution) :22 (2nd Period)
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APRIL 16: USA 3-4 MEXICO (MATCH 3)
Scoring Summary: 1 2 3 F
USA 1 1 1 3
MEX 0 0 4 4
USA - Alessandro Canale (Perea) 7:32 (1st Period)
USA - Gabriel Silveira (Canale) 7:42 (2nd)
MEX - Hector Acevedo 10:39 (3rd)
USA - Chris Toth 9:01 (3rd)
MEX - Diego Martinez 7:23 (3rd)
MEX - Hector Acevedo 6:06 (3rd)
MEX - Jose Hernandez 1:59 (3rd)
Lineups:
USA: 12-Chris Toth (Captain), 5-Nicolas Perea, 7-Chris Albiston, 9-Alessandro Canale, 10-Gabriel Silveira
Substitutes: 2-Alvaro Franco, 3-Antonio Chavez, 6-Cody Valrcarcel, 11-Andres Navas
Did not Play: 1-Austin Collier
Head coach: Francis Farberoff
MEX: 1-Gabriel Macias, 2-Juan Carlos Morales, 4-Edgar Portilla (Captain), 8-Diego Martinez Soto, 10-Hector Acevedo,
Substitutes: 12-Antonio Echeverria, 3-Jose Hernandez, 5-Alejandro Garcia, 7-Noe Lopez Galvez, 11-Jose Morales
Head coach: Francisco Cati
Misconduct Summary:
MEX - Diego Martinez (caution) 2:02 (2nd)
USA - Alvaro Franco (caution) 2:02 (2nd)
USA - Alvaro Franco (caution; ejection) 6:04 (3rd)
USA - Chris Albiston (ejection) :00 (3rd)