U.S. Under-15 Boys National Team Opens its 2025 Concacaf Boys’ U-15 Championship Run with a 2-0 Victory against Saudi Arabia
Ikenna Chidebe and Vinny Garcia Score; Alexander Hernandez Bags Two Assists in Shutout Win
ALAJUELA, Costa Rica (Aug. 6., 2025) - The U.S. Under-15 Boys’ National Team began its title defense at the 2025 Concacaf Boys’ U-15 Championship with a 2-0 win over Saudi Arabia on Monday.
The U-15 BNT's participation in this tournament reflects U.S. Soccer’s ongoing commitment to its U.S. Way , which emphasizes enhanced programming for Youth National Teams. The goal is to create more opportunities for young players to progress through the development pathway and ultimately represent the senior National Team on the global stage.
The USA opened the scoring in the first half with a 12th minute goal from Ikenna Chidebe. After intense pressure in the opposition box, Vinny Garcia wrestled possession and laid the ball back to Alexander Hernadez. The Colorado Rapids forward then delivered a cross to Chidebe, who calmly finished into the bottom left corner.
Garcia doubled the USA’s lead ten minutes into the second half, capping off a well-worked counterattack. The midfielder collected the ball near the center circle then played it wide to Hernandez, who returned the pass as Garcia drove toward the Saudi Arabian defense. After lunging past a defender and being shoved from behind, Garcia was able to take a touch around the goalkeeper and slot the ball into the net as he fell.
Saudi Arabia went down a man in the 55th minute when midfielder Ahmed Almazaiel received a red card for a lunging tackle on Niccolo Viafiades, leaving Saudi Arabia without one of its most impactful players up to that point. The team’s woes continued in the final minute of regulation when Turki Alshamarri was also sent off following a touchline scuffle with the USA’s Jeremiah Alexander-Muñoz, who was shown a yellow card. The match ended three minutes later, with the USA sealing the victory in its opening match of the tournament.
UP NEXT: The USA will take on Costa Rica on Wednesday, Aug. 6 at 1 p.m. ET (11 a.m. local) in its second group stage match. The game will be streamed live on Concacaf platforms.
- U.S. UNDER-15 BOYS NATIONAL TEAM MATCH REPORT -
Match: U.S. Under-15 Boy’s Youth National Team vs. Saudi Arabia U-15 YNT
Date: August 4, 2025
Competition: 2025 Under-15 Boys Concacaf Championship
Venue: Proyecto Gol, Alajuela, Costa Rica
| Scoring Summary | 1 | 2 | F |
| USA | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| KSA | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| USA – Ikenna Chidebe | 11th minute |
| USA – Vicente Garcia | 45 |
Lineups:
USA: 1-Jason Nemo Jr.; 5-Christian Guillen-Lopez (14-Luca Antongirolami, 61), 4-Owen Jorgensen, 3-Justus Jones (12-Finn McCraney, 50), 2-Jeremiah Alexander-Munoz; 11-Robert Turdean (16-Liam Stribling, 61), 10-Vinny Garcia, 6-ChristopherMorales (16-Nathan Tchoumba, 61); 17-Sean Chidebe; 9-Timoni Gbalajobi (13-Kane Kraus, 61), 7-Alexander Hernandez (8-Niccolo Vafiades, 50)
Substitutes not used: 12-Emmanuel Arias Barrios
Head Coach: Ross Brady
KSA: 18-Abdullah Almas; 7-Ahmed Almazaiel, 17-Meshal Alsalloum, 6-Ziyad Aldaswari, 4-Abdullrahman Almami, 2-Bassam Alsawan; 16-Abdullah Aldosari, 10-Tamim Alkhaldi, 9-Yazan Alabdurabalnbi; 13-Wesam Alshamrani, 8-Nasser Alsagaabi
Head Coach: Sofin Kheyari
Stats Summary: USA / KSA
Shots: 14 / 4
Shots on Goal: 6 / 1
Saves: 1 / 2
Corner Kicks: 7 / 3
Fouls: 2 / 7
Offside: 4 / 2
Officials:
Referee: Richard Tejada (PAN)
Assistant 1: Keytzel Corrales
Assistant 2: