Peru Draws Josh Sargent, USA with Late Equalizer

A late goal from Peru left the United States men's national team with a 1-1 draw in Tuesday's international friendly.

Josh Sargent gave USA a lead in the 49th minute, but Edison Flores scored the equalizer in the 86th minute in East Hartford, Connecticut, to help finish with a tie.

After the disappointing 4-2 loss to Colombia last week, the Americans now have one win and one draw in four matches against World Cup opponents since the international championship.

Josh Sargent Is the Striker USA Desperately Needs

Fans of the United States have been burned before when getting overexcited about young players, but Sargent has lived up to expectations in his short career with the national team.

The 18-year-old scored in his first cap earlier this year and then came through with his second against Peru off a set piece:

He is the third-youngest player in USMNT history to score two goals, trailing only Christian Pulisic and Juan Agudelo, per Paul Carr of TruMedia. 

In addition to the goal, Sargent looked comfortable on the pitch while making strong runs and generally causing problems for the opposing defense. Outside of a few instances, his touches were composed, and it made him a legitimate scoring threat throughout the match.

This comes at the right time for a United States squad that is desperate for help at forward. While there are several young midfielders who can eventually slide into the starting lineup when games get competitive, Jozy Altidore might have been the only attacking player you could trust.

Sargent is someone who has shown a lot of upside with his club at Werder Bremen and is now turning this into production at the international level.

Based on the lack of alternatives, Bleacher Report's Joe Tansey provided a reasonable solution for the team's biggest hole:

You don't want to be too reliant on someone so young, but Sargent appears likely to be a major part of the squad going forward.

American Youngsters Prove It's Their Time with Performances

The result was a disappointing one considering the United States was just a few minutes away from an upset win. However, mistakes are to be expected when you run with a team featuring so little experience.

The Colombia loss had several established players like Michael Bradley, DeAndre Yedlinand Bobby Wood, and they didn't fare much better.

Still, the young players trying to prove themselves at this level have done just that, matching up against some of the best in the world and living to tell about it. Between the draw against France in June, the win against Mexico in September and Tuesday's 1-1 finish, this group showed it is not intimidated by World Cup opponents.

Just as importantly, there was a lot to like at the individual level.

In addition to Sargent, Timothy Weah was aggressive with some quality plays, while Jonathan Amon looked solid in his first cap:

The defense also held strong for almost the entire match, with Cameron Carter-Vickers especially stepping up at center back. Aaron Long and Reggie Cannon also held their own in their USMNT debuts.

This was far from a perfect performance, with the team only holding 32 percent possession, per ESPN FC. Peru outshot the home team 14-5 and was the better squad for most of the night.

With that said, there is more than enough to be excited about the future with plenty of time before the next round of World Cup qualifying.

What's Next?

The United States has two more friendlies left in 2018, both of them taking place in Europe. The squad will travel to Wembley Stadium to take on England on Nov. 15, followed by a match against Italy in Belgium on Nov. 20.