U.S. Men’s Para National Team Finish Fourth At 2022 IFCPF World Cup After Loss To Brazil

SALOU, Spain (May 15, 2022) -  The U.S. Men’s Para National Team fell to Brazil 2-0 in the Bronze Medal match of the 2022 IFCPF World Cup Sunday evening in the mini-stadium of the Futbol Salou Sports Complex. The fourth place finish is the USA’s highest at a world competition, surpassing its previous best sixth place at the 2019 World Cup and follows up a Bronze Medal at the 2019 Para Pan-American Games.

 

In the Gold Medal match played afterwards, Ukraine defeated Iran 1-0 to win the World Cup after being runner-up in 2019. During the medal ceremonies, U.S. goalkeeper Sean Boyle was named Best Goalkeeper at the World Cup.

 

The tightly contested match saw the USA and Brazil locked in on preventing dangerous opportunities, with emphasis put on pressuring high once the other won possession. The South American’s had the first real threat after twenty minutes when Cesar Batista de Aguiar got in close and ripped a shot that somehow Boyle kept out of goal with a diving save to his right.

 

The breakthrough came with minutes left in the opening half. Brazil’s Heitor Ramires Camposano sent a cross in from the left that Boyle went low to cut off, but Angelo dos Santos Mota lunged forward and got his toe on the ball to push it past Boyle for the opening goal.

 

With Brazil making it difficult to attack down the center, the USA adjusted and started creating chances down the wings for much of the second half. Cameron DeLillo and Ben Lindau each had half-chances down the left, and Adam Ballou’s free kick from beyond the left side of the penalty area was parried out by Brazilian goalkeeper Moacir da Silva Matos.

 

However Brazil was able to double the lead after Lindau was called for a tripping foul inside the box, and Evandro de Oliveira Gomes put away the penalty kick.

 

The match was then paused with minutes remaining when Brazilian defender Joao Batista de Araujo was injured after colliding with a teammate and was taken away by ambulance. Play resumed after a 45 minute delay.

 

However despited going down a man after Ubirajara da Silva Magalhaes’s red card in stoppage time, Brazil kept the U.S. from mounting another threat to close out the match.

 

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• Goalkeeper Sean Boyle, defenders John Sullivan and captain Josh Brunais, and midfielder Ben Lindau started all five matches.

• Brunais played every minute of every game; Boyle and Lindau were subbed out in stoppage time of the wins over Australia and the Netherlands, and Sullivan was replaced with two minutes left in 3-0 over the Netherlands.

• Defender Drew Bremer, midfielder Jonah Meyer-Crothers and forward Cameron DeLillo also appeared in all five games; Adam Ballou and Shea Hammond played in four; Jacob Crumbley and Marc Estrella appeared in two; Kevin McCandlish and Chileshe Chitalangoma each made one appearance. Jacob Kaplan was injured during training after the opening match and did not recover in time to make an appearance.

• Meyer-Crothers led the team with four goals: three vs NED, one vs AUS; DeLillo scored twice vs AUS and one vs Ukraine; Bremer and Brunais (vs Iran), and Sullivan and Shea Hammond (vs AUS) also scored.

- U.S. MEN’S PARA NATIONAL TEAM MATCH REPORT-

 

Match: United States Men’s Para National Team vs. Brazil

Date: May 15, 2022
Competition: 2022 IFCPF World Cup

Venue: Futbol Salou Sports Complex Main Stadium

Attendance: —

Kickoff: 9:30 a.m. ET (3:30 p.m. local time)

Weather: 78 degrees; sunny

 

Scoring Summary:  1          2          F

USA                            0          0          0

BRA                             1          1          2

 

BRA - Angelo dos Santos Mota                             27th minute

BRA - Evandro de Oliveira Gomes (penalty)      39

 

Lineups:

USA: 1-Sean Boyle, 5-John Sullivan, 7-Adam Ballou (8-Drew Bremer, 60+3), 10-Ben Lindau, 11-Jonah Meyer-Crothers, 13-Josh Brunais (Captain), 9-Cameron DeLillo (3-Jacob Crumbley, 60+10)

Substitutes: 12-Marc Estrella, 2-Kevin McCandlish, 4-Chileshe Chitulangoma, 6-Jake Kaplan, 14-Shea Hammond

Head Coach: Stuart Sharp

 

BRA: 1-Moacir da Silva Matos (captain), 3-Heitor Ramires Camposano (4-Joao Batista de Araujo, 59), 5-Jefferson Luiz da Silva (6-Leonardo Giovani Morais, 41), 7-Ubirajara da Silva Magalhaes, 10-Cesar Batista de Aguiar, 13-Angelo dos Santos Mota (8-Evandro de Oliveira Gomes, 31), 14-Lucas Henrique da Silva

Substitutes: 12-Jose Martins dos Santos, 2-Joao Victor Batista Cortes, 9-Jefferson Miranda Cardoso, 11-Matheus Cardoso de Sauza

Head coach: Paulo Cabral

 

Misconduct Summary:

BRA - Heitor Ramires Camposano (caution)      6th minute

BRA - Evandro de Oliveira Gomes (caution)      34’

USA - Ben Lindau (caution)                                   39’

BRA - Ubirajara da Silva Magalhaes (ejection)  60+4

 

Officials:

Referee: Scott Henry

Assistant Referee: V Garcia

Assistant Referee:  D Conejo

Fourth Official: Ross Haswell