USA raise eyebrows by beating Virgin Islands 22-0 in under-17 qualifiers
While Canada found the net with regularity during the Concacaf Under-17 World Cup qualifiers on island, their goalscoring exploits pale in comparison with the United States.
The US under-17 team are taking part in the same competition in Costa Rica and have raised the ire of plenty of sports lovers in North America by routing the US Virgin Islands 22-0 in their group match last night.
The scoreline was a record for any US national team, eclipsing the 20-0 victory achieved by the under-17 women’s team against Grenada in 2022.
Chase Adams scored ten of the 22 goals with Chase Cowell scoring two. Cowell is the younger brother of 21-year-old Chivas forward Cade Cowell, who has made 11 appearances for the US senior national team.
Captain Maximo Carrizo scored four goals in the game at San Jose, with Jude Terry, Pedro Guimaraes, Ramiz Hamouda, Jamir Johnson and Kellan LeBlanc claiming one goal apiece.
The winning scoreline understandably provoked much reaction on Twitter with comments questioning whether the US displayed a lack of sportsmanship by racking up the score and others wondering whether a mercy rule could be implemented.
Mercy rules are common in sports in the US, particularly among young athletes. In US high school football most states use a mercy rule that ends the game if one team is ahead by ten or more goals at any point from half time.
In NCAA softball (where the rule is called the “run rule”), the rule is invoked if one team is ahead by at least eight runs after five innings and, unlike with college baseball, applies in the NCAA tournament with the exception of the championship series. In American high school softball, most states use a mercy rule of 20 runs ahead in three innings or 10 in five innings.
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