U.S. Ties Peru, Showing Promise and Inexperience

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — The metric that may best explain the state of the United States men’s national soccer team is not wins or goals or assists, but a far more unpredictable one: age.

The 10 American field players sent out to face Peru on Tuesday night, for example, had an average age of 21.9. Three were still teenagers. Three of the starters were making their first appearance for the team. Another was making his second.

So when that young team marched off 90-plus minutes later with a 1-1 tie against Peru, which arrived with more than half the players who had represented the country at this summer’s World Cup, there was reason for U.S. Soccer and its fans to be optimistic. One of those…