Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush sports medicine doctor Jeffrey Mjaanes, M.D. has traveled to Cordoba, Argentina with the U.S. U-17 Men's National soccer team. He will be sending updates on the training sessions and games in South America.

Sunday, June 27 11:00 AM - We got up early today to play our last friendly match, this time against Chile. In the 13th minute, Riggs Lennon scored for us, giving the U.S. the lead. Shortly afterwards, an unfortunate call by the referee led to a penalty kick for Chile tied the score. With one minute left in the first half, Chile scored again to lead 2:1. The second half we played hard, but in the last few minutes, Chile scored again, ending the match 3:1 in favor of Chile.

So in the end we won one of the matches and lost two. The Uruguayans topped the group and Argentina came in last. We ended 3rd in the group. This afternoon we will watch the Argentina World Cup game and then fly back to Buenos Aires. Tomorrow we head back to the States. Overall a good trip without any major injuries. Now, time to head home.

Saturday, June 26 10:45 AM - Yesterday we played our second friendly, this time against the U-17 MNT of Uruguay. We were up 1:0 in the first half but Uruguay played well. In the end they scored to tie and one more to give them the 2:1 edge and the win. It was a tough game although the guys put up a great effort and played well.

Today we are training - and of course will be watching the USA full national team bring the fight to Ghana. Tomorrow we play our last friendly against Chile then head back to Buenos Aires to make our way home.

I'll update again tomorrow.

Thursday, June 24 12:00 AM - Hey just wanted to give an update on the Argentina trip.

So I'm here in Cordoba, Argentina with the U-17 (under 17 year olds) mens national team. I met up with the team Saturday in Buenos Aires. They had spent a week in Costa Rica playing a series of friendly matches.

We arrived here in Cordoba Sunday. We are playing three friendlies against the U-17 Men's teams from Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. Yesterday we played our first match against Argentina and won, 2-0. With the US win at the World Cup in South Africa, yesterday was a great day for US Soccer!

Today we had a training session. Tomorrow we play Uruguay and Sunday we play Chile. It is winter here, so chilly at night, but the daytime weather is perfect for soccer - sunny, breezy and mid-60's.

We bring a lot of gear and equipment, including medical supplies, to prepare for any health-related possibility. So far we have been lucky and have not had any major injuries. I have mostly been treating mild conditions such as muscle strains, groin pulls and rashes. The team is focused on eating healthy, proper hydration, warm-up and recovery sessions and injury prevention so hopefully we can keep the guys healthy and injury-free.

Will update after tomorrow's game. Go USA!

Jeff