S.F.’s Lletget dropped from U.S. Cup roster
An already banged-up U.S. soccer team lost four more players, including San Francisco native Sebastian Lletget, heading into Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier at Panama.
Lletget, who went to El Camino High-South San Francisco and scored his first international goal in the fifth minute in Friday night’s 6-0 victory against Honduras at Avaya Stadium, exited after his left foot was hurt during a slide tackle by Ever Alvarado that earned the Honduran defender a yellow card in the 15th minute. Lletget will be evaluated in Los Angeles, where he plays for the Los Angeles Galaxy.
U.S. coach Bruce Arena also dropped defenders John Brooks (sinus infection) and Michael Orozco (right knee) and former Stanford forward Jordan Morris (right ankle). Arena added forward Paul Arriola on Saturday. The U.S. already was without defender DeAndre Yedlin, midfielder Fabian Johnson and forward Bobby Wood.
“Unfortunate series of injuries and illnesses, and that’s all part of it,” Arena said after a light training session on the practice field Saturday outside Avaya Stadium.
Midfielder Jermaine Jones will return after serving a one-game suspension Friday for yellow-card accumulation. After an 0-2 start that led the U.S. Soccer Federation to fire coach Jurgen Klinsmann and bring back Arena, the Americans could move back into one of the three qualifying positions with a win Tuesday.
S.F. Deltas: The new North American Soccer League team played to a 1-1 draw with the Indy Eleven in the Deltas’ first game, before an announced crowd of 4,133 at Kezar Stadium. Kyle Bekker scored the first goal in team history to put the Deltas up in the 31st minute. Tanner Thompson scored the equalizer for Indy in the 58th minute.
European World Cup qualifying highlights: Rarely has a scoreless draw tasted so sweet. Andorra ended a 58match losing streak with a 0-0 draw against the Faroe Islands. It was the first point in qualifying for the Pyrenees mountain principality, population 80,000, since a scoreless draw with Finland in 2005 . ... Cristiano Ronaldo twice to lead Portugal past Hungary 3-0 . ... Teenage defender Matthijs de Ligt’s debut for the Netherlands quickly turned into a nightmare as he handed Bulgaria an early goal in a 2-0 defeat.
MLS: Juan Agudelo scored twice, and the host New England Revolution beat Minnesota United 5-2 . ... Niko Hansen scored in his MLS debut, Ola Kamara got a goal in his third consecutive game and the host Columbus Crew beat the Portland Timbers 3-2 . ... The host New York Red Bulls and Real Salt Lake drew 0-0.