Colorado Rapids homegrown starts Shane O’Neill and Dillon Serna were mostly quiet in the match Tuesday as the MLS Homegrown team was dominated by Club América U20, losing possession 59.5 percent to 40.5 percent and being outshot 11-6. Despite the advantages Club América only had a 4-3 lead in shots on target and the match ended in a shootout. Club América prevailed 5-4. Homegrown head coach Landon Donovan was happy with the 90-minute draw.
“We just played a very, very good Club América team. Those kids have been together for six or seven years, and we have players that are at least at their level,” he said to MLS reporters. “That didn’t happen 10 years ago. When I came into the league there wasn’t players like that, so that’s a good sign.
“Now it’s incumbent on all these guys to keep pushing and making their way to the first team, and playing regularly and it’s really exciting. I think the future looks fantastic.”
Donovan went on to say that the homegrown game is much more than a regular friendly; it’s a learning experience.
“It’s hard to come into an environment where you don’t know people and you come together in two days. The more experiences you have like that, the more you benefit from it,” he explained. “With the national team you play Sunday, you come in Monday, you’re playing Wednesday, it’s valuable to have experiences like this.”
The Rapids representatives O’Neill and Serna started, but were not much of a factor in the game. O’Neill played the first half and had one shot while Serna also played the same stretch and had one corner kick.
The two did combined for the shot in minute 40. O’Neill’s shot from the right side of the box following Serna’s corner.
Prior to the game, Serna was extremely excited to be a hometown kid (native of Broomfield, Colorado) representing the hometown team.
“It’s exciting, it’s definitely going to be a special moment when I get on the field to play tomorrow night in front of a bunch of friends and family coming to the game and a bunch of hometown Rapids fans as well,” Serna told MLSsoccer.com after training with the Homegrown team on Monday. “So, I’m looking forward to the experience, and it should be something special.”
Serna was also looking forward to the experience he would gain from the event and he had high hopes of defeating Americá but to no avail.
“I think there are a lot of guys who are coming in here to kind of prove themselves a little bit,” he said, “so they’re eager to get the game going, they’re confident, we’ve got a lot of good attacking guys, so hopefully we’ll score some goals tomorrow night.”
That result didn’t come to fruition, but it was a a positive experience nonetheless.
Marcus Flowers, a Mile High Sports intern and Claflin University student, contributed to this report