Ben Sweat’s career went full circle in Tampa on Thursday night as he made his international debut for the U.S. vs. Colombia.
Returning to Florida, his home state and the place he underwent a successful trial with NYCFC in January 2017, Ben made his USMNT bow as a second half substitute in front of all his family and friends, just 20 minutes away from his hometown.
Answering chants of his name from the home crowd, Dave Sacharan introduced Sweat as a substitute in place of Anthony Robinson to rapturous applause.
At the time, Sacharan’s men were chasing a 3-2 deficit following a highly-entertaining 74 minutes in Florida.
James Rodriguez gave the visitors the lead with a gorgeous curling strike in the first half before quickfire second half goals from Kellyn Acosta and Bobby Wood brielfy turned the tide in the hosts’ favor.
Carlos Bacca and Radamel Falcao hit back to put Colombia back in charge on 56' and 74', before Miguel Borja put down the American resistance with the final goal of the game to make it 4-2 on 79’.
With bigger games on the way for USMNT, Sweat did his chances of a recall no harm with a solid showing which featured one dangerous cross and a couple of nice touches as he overlapped on numerous occasions to try and help find his team a way back into the match.
Ben and the U.S. go again next week in East Hartford vs. Alexander Callens’ Peru.
Everyone at New York City FC would like to congratulate Ben on his fantastic achievement.
