Atlanta United’s Luke Brennan aiming for Under-20 World Cup
One of Atlanta United winger Luke Brennan’s goals is to be selected to play for the U.S. in the upcoming Under-20 World Cup. He said Tuesday he feels good about his chances after the completion of last week’s final team camp.
“I think that I’ve been playing well,” he said. “I think I’ve proven myself, and I’ve done well.”
The U20s played friendlies against Morocco in Spain on Sept. 5 and 8. Brennan played a total of 100 minutes in the two matches. He had an assist in the first match, a 4-1 victory. The second match ended 0-0.
Brennan said he should find out if he will be selected within the next two weeks. The U20 World Cup is scheduled to be played in Chile on Sept. 27-Oct. 19.
Brennan has developed into a consistent starter for Atlanta United. The Homegrown signee has set career highs for appearances (11), starts (4) and minutes (393).
Brennan said the recent experiences have improved his situational awareness and defensive skills. Though he hasn’t scored, he said he is becoming more confident attacking the 18-yard box and knows that goals will come.
“I think just learning and gaining experience in every game, and in my first couple years of professional football, I think that it’s good for me to get minutes,” he said. “It’s good to help me just push on further in my career.”
Some returnees back: Brennan and midfielders Alexey Miranchuk (Russia) and Bartosz Slisz (Poland) returned from international duty and were at Tuesday’s session.
Miranchuk scored in Russia’s 4-1 win in a friendly against Qatar on Sept. 7. Russia tied Jordan 0-0 in its first friendly Sept. 4.
Slisz and Poland drew 1-1 with Holland on Sept. 4 and defeated Finland 3-1 in two World Cup qualifying matches. Slisz played 90 minutes against Holland and 68 against Finland. Poland and Holland are tied atop Group G standings with 10 points.
Other players out Tuesday included wingers Miguel Almirón (Paraguay) and Saba Lobjanidze (Georgia), goalkeeper Jayden Hibbert (Canada), fullbacks Ronald Hernández (Venezuela) and midfielder Cooper Sanchez (U.S. U17s).
Paraguay is scheduled to play Peru, and Venezuela is scheduled to play Colombia on Tuesday in World Cup qualifying matches. Paraguay has achieved qualification. Georgia was beaten by Turkey 3-2 and defeated Bulgaria 3-2 in its two qualifiers. It is second in Group E, five points behind Spain. The top two teams in each group advance to the next stage.
Canada is scheduled to play Wales in a friendly Tuesday.
World Cup: The World Cup ticket lottery is scheduled to open Wednesday. Atlanta will host eight matches in next year’s tournament.
Applications for tickets will start at fifa.com/tickets. Applicants must have a FIFA ID and be a Visa credit card holder. If the application is accepted, FIFA will notify the purchasers by email, with a dedicated time and date in October to purchase tickets. As many as four tickets can be bought per person for a single match, for up to as many as 10 matches.
The cheapest ticket will be $60 for a group-stage match; the most expensive ticket will start at $6,730 for the championship match in New Jersey on July 19.
Club World Cup: Viewership for the Club World Cup, which included six matches in Atlanta, had an estimated 2.7 billion fans view the tournament across various media platforms, FIFA said Tuesday after receiving reports conducted by Nielsen Sports.
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