Liverpool striker Keyrol Figueroa’s time at the U17 World Cup has ended in defeat, with the United States losing out to Germany in the last 16.
The U17 World Cup is underway in Indonesia, with Liverpool only seeing one of their high-potential youngsters called up.
While the likes of Trey Nyoni and Amara Nallo were overlooked for England, Figueroa joined up with his USA team-mates for their second tournament of 2023.
Having reached the final of the CONCACAF U17 Championship, losing to Mexico but scoring seven and assisting one along the way, the 17-year-old will have had high hopes.
The US began the World Cup with back-to-back victories over South Korea and Burkina Faso to progress beyond the group stage, with Figueroa starting both and scoring the opener in the latter.
After a role off the bench in the 3-0 defeat to France to round off the group, the Liverpool youngster was back in the XI for the knockouts.
Unfortunately, it came in defeat, with the US conceding in the 87th minute as they lost 3-2 in a back-and-forth clash with Germany.
Figueroa played 78 minutes at the tip of the attack, playing a part in Taha Habroune’s goal to equalise at 1-1.
But a late strike from Bilal Yalcinkaya consigned the US to defeat, as Germany set up a quarter-final against Spain on Friday.
England exited the World Cup the following day, with Greg Lincoln’s side suffering a shock 2-1 defeat to Uzbekistan in their last-16 tie.
Figueroa will now return to Merseyside to rejoin his Liverpool U18s team-mates, having seen his club campaign hampered by injury so far.
“It’s only just the beginning of this beautiful journey,” he wrote on Instagram following the loss to Germany.
“Thank you for all the support.”
The teenager has only made two appearances for the young Reds so far this season, with 45 minutes in a 7-1 thrashing of Sunderland in the league in October followed by 68 minutes in a 5-3 cup loss to Fulham two weeks later.
