The young Yanks came out in a 4-1-4-1 formation designed to attack the ball in the midfield with Justen Glad as the left center back and Brooks Lennon on the far right wing of midfield. The first 10 minutes were fairly even as each of the teams attempted to feel the other out. But by the 15th minute the US was beginning to find space and look dangerous. Brooks Lennon took a good whack in the 17th minute and was down for a moment that did not bode well for the US and RSL.
The US took the lead in the 18th minute with a nice through ball by Eryk Williamson to Emmanuel Sabbi who buried the ball 1-on-1 against the keeper.