U.S. Men’s CP National Team opens Parapan Am Games with 4-2 win over hosts Chile

SANTIAGO, Chile (November 18, 2023) - The U.S. Men’s Cerebral Palsy (CP) National Team opened the 2023 Parapan American Games with a solid 4-2 win over host, Chile, Saturday afternoon before a lively crowd at Estadio Bicentenario de la Florida in Santiago. Two goals from forward Cameron DeLillo and one from Jacob Kaplan put the USA up 3-0 at the half, and Shea Hammond helped extend with a second half tally.

Starting the seven most experienced players on the roster to face the host country, the USA withstood a few long-range shots that were easily handled by goalkeeper Sean Boyle before settling in. Defender Adam Ballou saw one shot go wide left, and holding midfield Josh Brunais was denied by Chilean goalkeeper Hector Garcia, who made numerous strong saves on the day.

The USA broke through at the quarter hour mark when midfielder Ben Lindau took a ball to the endline on the right side and slipped a pass across the goal to DeLillo, who calmly set up his right and passed the ball past Garcia for the opening goal.

DeLillo then made a similar play on the endline, drawing the goalkeeper before dropping a ball back thru traffic. Kaplan had a good hit that was blocked by a defender on the goalmouth, with the ball coming back to Kaplan to place it in the back of the net from 10 yards out.

DeLillo then combined with Ballou in stoppage time, this time approaching the goal from the left and beating the ‘keeper from a tight angle for his second of the day.

Brunais was replaced at halftime by Shea Hammond, with defender Drew Bremer taking the armband. Seemingly off the whistle, Bremer sent a nice diagonal ball from the back left into the area that Kaplan met but could not get by the imposing goalkeeper.

Chilean captain Patricio Saavedra gave his team life in the 38th with a nice finish from 18 yards to cut into the lead, while Garcia kept his team in it with back-to-back saves of Hammond breakaways.

However Hammond’s hard work paid off with 15 minutes left when Bremer cleared a ball from his own end that the goalkeeper misplayed, leaving Hammond alone in front of goal to finish.

Chile’s Darwin Diaz converted a stoppage time penalty kick after drawing a foul on Boyle to close out the scoring.

The USA plays Argentina in their second group game on Sunday at 12:30 pm ET. Argentina dropped its opening game 2-1 to Brazil.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• DeLillo continued his hot streak at the Parapan Games, having led the 2019 tournament with nine goals in Peru.
• Kaplan’s only other goal was against Colombia at the 2018 Copa American in Ecuador.
• Hammond’s goal was his 12th internationally, and the second of 2023 after scoring in a friendly versus Australia in January in Sydney.

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

Match: United States Men’s CP National Team vs. Chile
Date: November 18, 2023
Competition: Parapan American Games
Venue: Estadio Bicentenario de la Florida
Attendance: 2,606
Kickoff: 12:30 p.m. ET
Weather: 68 degrees; Cloudy

Scoring Summary:   1          2          F
USA                             3          1          4
CHI                              0          2          2

USA - Cameron DeLillo (Ben Lindau)            16
USA - Jacob Kaplan                                          22
USA - Cameron DeLillo (Adam Ballou)         30+1
CHI - Patricio Saavedra                                   38
USA - Shea Hammond (Drew Bremer)         44
CHI - Darwin Diaz (penalty)                            60+3

Lineups:
USA: 1-Sean Boyle, 7-Adam Ballou, 8-Drew Bremer, 13-Josh Brunais (Captain) (14-Shea Hammond, 31), 6-Jacob Kaplan, 10-Ben Lindau, 9-Cameron DeLillo (3-Jacob Crumbley, 51)
Substitutes: 12-Marc Estrella, 2-Frankie Lowery, 4-Wes Pincince, 5-John Sullivan, 11-Kevin McCandlish
Head Coach: Stuart Sharp

CHI: 12-Hector Garcia, 2-Cristian Del Pino, 6-Alexis Pavez (3-Oscar Palma, 31), 7-Darwin Diaz, 9-Sebastian Borquez (13-Jairo Gonzalez, 55), 10-Bastian Velasquez (14-Thomas Valenzuela, 31), 11-Patricio Saavedra (8-Leonel Guzman, 47)
Substitutes: 1-Christian Tsangas, 6-Timothy Blowes, 8-Riley Stubing, 9-Luc Launder, 14-Augustine Murphy, 15-Noah Bremmer-Bell, 16-Joshua Beekes, 18-Christian Bitsikas
Head coach: Sonny Riquelme

Stats Summary: USA / CHI
Shots: 21 / 11
Shots on Goal: 16 / 8
Saves: 9 / 11
Corner Kicks: 6 / 4
Fouls: 8 / 7
Offside: 0 / 0

Misconduct Summary:
USA - Shea Hammond (caution)              42
USA - Cameron DeLillo (caution)             43
CHI - Cristian Del Pino (caution)              51
USA - Sean Boyle (caution)                       60+2

Officials:
Referee: Dario Rojas (ARG)
Assistant Referee: Daniel Irarrazabal (CHI)
Assistant Referee:  Saori Jaimes (VEN)
Fourth Official: Jose Juan (CHI)