The Americans finished second at the group thanks to Tunisia's win over Tajikistan, which put the USA, Tajikistan and Belgium in a three-way tie with three points each. The USA edged Tajikistan on goals-scored and Belgium on goal difference.
Click HERE for USA-Belgium video highlights.
The U.S. win over Belgium marked its first shutout at the U-17 World Cup since a 1-0 win over Uruguay.Second-half substitute Urso, making his first appearance in the tournament, opened the scoring in the 63rd minute.
Gregory Garza took a shot at the top of the box that deflected off of a defender and bounced high into the box to Urso, who took a touch to bring the ball down and then hit a hard shot that Belgian keeper Jo Coppens got a piece of but couldn't keep out of the goal.
U.S. captain Mykell Bates scored his second goal of the tournament seven minutes later on a header from a Garza corner kick.
"We're very happy, and we've accomplished our first goal, which was to get out of our group," said U.S. U-17 coach John Hackworth. "We had moments in our two previous games that were pretty good, but we didn't do well for 90 minutes in those games. Today we stuck to our game plan throughout and didn't get rattled by anything."
GAME SUMMARY
Aug. 26 in Cheonan, South Korea
USA 2 Belgium 0.
Goals: Urso (Jeffrey) 63, Bates (Garza) 71.
USA - Lambo, Williams, Bates, Zimmerman (Ibrahim, 60), Wenzel (Urso, 46), Jeffrey, Garza, Nimo (Dominguez, 93+), Schuler, McLoughlin.
Coach: John Hackworth
Belgium - Coppens, Daeseleire, Hustinx (Geurden, 68), Phiri, DePauw, Hazard, Kis (Francois, 46), Ngombo, De Castris, Aquino Zevne, 62), Benteke.
Coach: Bob Browaeys
Stats: USA/BEL
Shots: 21/6
Shots on goal: 12/3
Saves: 3/10
Fouls: 17/13
Corner Kicks: 8/5
Offside: 1/1
Yellow cards: USA -- Zimmerman 35, Schuler 40, Meyer 48+,
Red cards: Belgium -- Benteke (sent off) 36.
Referee: Salvio Fagundes Filho (BRA).
Att.: 14,927



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