U-20 World Cup Roundup

For the 3^rd time in seven years, an American soccer team played Ghana with a chance to move on in the World Cup. And for the 3^rd time in seven years, the United States couldn’t come through. This time, however, the loss to the Black Stars did not eliminate us from the world’s biggest sporting event as it was in the FIFA U-20 World Cup. And while it was certainly a disappointment to see our lads head home from Turkey after just three games, it did not depress American soccer fans the way the losses in 2006 and 2010 did.

The US got put in this tournaments “Group of Death.” They were stuck in a group that included Spain, France, and Ghana—three of the biggest favorites in the tournament, all three of which are still alive and well in the quarterfinals.

In the first game against Spain, the United States were seemingly blown out of the water in losing 4-1. But it was the way in which the team played and the mentality they approached the game with that was important. They didn’t bunker down and defend the whole game. They went out searching for goals, holding possession (and actually held 51% at halftime, something almost unheard of against a Spanish national team of any level), and looking for a win. However, it was clearly not the best tactical approach by Tab Ramos. The Spanish were content to allow the US to press while they hit back on the counterattack. The midfielders and central defense pair of the US had no hope of keeping up with the speed and technical ability of the Spanish frontline on the break. They were beaten twice by both Gerard Deulofeu and Jese Rodriguez (Deulofeu just signed a first team contract with Barcelona and Jese set the record for goals in a season by a Real Madrid youth player with 21), which is nothing to hang your head about, but it also showed that Ramos’ game plan was not the one needed to keep the Americans in the game.

Against France they took the field knowing they needed a result, and got one with a 1-1 draw. France was another team with superior skill, speed, and size. Many of their players make their livings playing for some of the top teams in Europe. Yaya Sanogo just reached a deal with Arsenal, Lucas Digne appeared in 32 games for Ligue 1 team Lille, and Paul Pogba played in 37 games for Serie A giants Juventus. Ramos seemed to learn from the Spain thrashing and the US played the game with a more defensive minded approach. They were much more compact and gave up very little on the counterattack, something that so often burned them in the first game. However, the French team still had the superior skill and for the most part controlled the game. They keyed in defensively on Luis Gil and were able to almost completely shut him down, leaving the US with very little bite going forward. Even though they certainly were outplayed, it can easily be argued that the Americans were unlucky to not get the full three points as the only goal France scored came on a very suspect penalty call and Luis Gil missed his opportunity from the spot.

The game against Ghana was the only truly disheartening game of the tournament in my eyes. After the loss to Spain and tie with France, the Americans knew going into the match that a win would put them through to the next round of the tournament, and the effort showed up for the must win game was nowhere near where it needed to be. Ghana is a very talented and fast team; they were a pre tournament favorite for a reason. However, they were definitely the most beatable of the three nations in the United States’ group. From the opening whistle the Ghanaians were the much faster, skilled, and focused side. Cody Cropper made some fantastic saves which was the only thing that kept this from being a complete blowout.

Overall I think that the tournament was a bit disappointing and showed that there is still a long way until American can be considered a top soccer nation. However, I don’t believe that the performance is indicative of where the youth program is or the level of talent in our youth system. Center back was a black hole in the tournament but moving forward it is one of the positions that we have the most depth at. Shane O’Neill, who was the best of the three center backs in Turkey, will only improve from where he is now, as he has only been playing the position for a short time. Walker Zimmerman was left off the squad for some odd reason, John Anthony Brooks did not want to play for the US quite yet, Andrew Jean-Baptiste barely missed the age cutoff and Will Packwood is another center back prospect worth watching. All five of those players have potential futures with the national team. Offensively, it seemed like Ramos looked towards one type of player and that was small and quick. It was very evident that the forwards were nowhere near the physical level of the defenses they played, and there was no forward on the team capable of winning balls in the air or holding possession with their back to goal. Once again however, I don’t feel like this is saying that we have no good forward prospects. Jack McBean was hurt and missed the tournament while Jack McInerney just missed out on the age cutoff. Both of those players have the potential to not make the jump to Europe (not yet but in the coming years) and be contributors to the national team. Omar Salgado is another big forward who was left off the roster. In the midfield, star Marc Pelosi was out with a broken tibia and fibula and Zach Pfeffer wasn’t on the roster. That’s a lot of talent that wasn’t with the team in Turkey for one reason or another.

The U-20 World Cup didn’t go the way that US Soccer, the players, or the fans wanted and expected it to go. But the team did get very valuable experience against the best in the world, and they showed that they weren’t afraid of the world’s giants. It was nice to see the Americans not backing down from Spain in the first game or France in the second. The tournament did show that the US is still not near the top soccer nations of the world, but it also showed that we are developing individual players that have the ability to play with those teams. Luis Gil played wonderfully against Spain and was one of best on the field for either team and DeAndre Yedlin played a fantastic game against France while being marked by one of the best young left backs in soccer.