[USA-GHANA] The USA looks to stay alive at the Under-20 World Cup in Turkey with a win over Ghana on Thursday in their third and final group game at Kayseri’sKadir Has Stadium (kickoff: 1 pm ET; ESPNU, WatchESPN, Univision Deportes). A tie will do the USA no good and even a win might not be enough to send the USA through as one of the top four third-placeteams, but all Coach Tab Ramos wants is a chance …
“We knew coming into this World Cup that we were in a very difficult group,” hesaid. “We wanted to make sure that we went into the third game with an opportunity to advance, and I think we’ve put ourselves in position to do that. We’re very happy where we areand now it comes down to one game.”
The USA will be without Santos midfielder Benji Joya, who is suspended. He could be replace in midfieldby Sporting Kansas City rookie Mikey Lopez. Recent FC Dallas signing Danny Garcia has been cleared to play aftersuffering a head knock in the 4-1 loss to Spain.
The USA is still alive even though it is winless in the first two games of the tournament for first time since its first appearance intournament in 1981.
It enters the final day of play with one point, but every other group has or will have after Day 3 at least three teams with three or more points, meaning a tie isuseless.
In case of a win, the USA will have four points and a goal difference of no worse than minus-two. Unless France is routed by Spain in the other Group A match being played at thesame time, the USA will have to wait and see how the other groups play out.
Assuming the USA didn’t get significant help with its unfavorable goal difference, it would probably need atleast two of these to happen:
— Group B (Thursday): South Korea win against Nigeria;
— Group D (Friday): Mexico win or tie against Mali;
— Group C (Friday): Colombia win(or possibly tie) against El Salvador;
— Group E (Saturday): Egypt win or tie against England;
— Group F (Saturday): Uzbekistan win against Uruguay.
The USA has not reachedthe knockout stage of the U-20 World Cup since 2007 when it advanced to the quarterfinals with a team that included Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley. Freddy Adu and Robbie Rogers.
GROUPA:
Friday, June 21
Spain 4 USA 1
France 3 Ghana 1
Monday, June 24
USA 1 France 1
Spain 1 Ghana 0
Thursday, June 27
USA vs.Ghana ESPNU, WatchESPN, 1 p.m. ET
Spain vs. France WatchESPN, ESPNU (at 7 p.m.), 1 p.m. ET
Friday, June 21
Portugal 3 Nigeria 2
South Korea 2 Cuba 1
Monday, June 24
Nigeria 3 Cuba 0
Portugal 2 South Korea 2
Thursday, June 27
South Korea vs. Nigeria ESPN3, 10 a.m. ET
Portugal vs. Cuba ESPN3, UnivisionDeportes, 10 a.m. ET
GROUP C:
Saturday, June 22
Colombia 1Australia 1
Turkey 3 El Salvador 0
Tuesday, June 25
El Salvador 2 Australia 1
Turkey 0 Colombia 1
Australia vs. Turkey ESPN3, 2 p.m. ET
El Salvador vs. Colombia ESPN3, Univision Deportes,UnivisionDeportes.com, 2 p.m. ET
GROUP D:
Saturday, June 22
Greece 2 Mexico 1
Paraguay 1 Mali 1
Tuesday, June 25
Mexico 0Paraguay 1
Mali 0 Greece 0
Friday, June 28
Mali vs. Mexico ESPNU, WatchESPN, Univision Deportes, 11a.m. ET
Greece vs. Paraguay ESPN3, 11 a.m. ET
GROUP E:
Sunday,June 23
Chile 2 Egypt 1
England 2 Iraq 2
Wednesday, June 26
Chile 1 England 1
Iraq 2 Egypt 1
Saturday, June 29
Egypt vs. England ESPNU,WatchESPN, 2 p.m. ET
Iraq vs. Chile ESPN3, Univision Deportes, UnivisionDeportes.com, 2 p.m. ET
GROUP F:
Sunday, June 23
Croatia 1 Uruguay 0
Uzbekistan 3 New Zealand 0
Wednesday, June 26
Uruguay 2 New Zealand 0
Croatia 1 Uzbekistan 1
Saturday, June 29
Uzbekistan vs. Uruguay ESPN3, 11 a.m.ET
Croatia vs. New Zealand ESPN3, 11 a.m. ET
Tab Ramos, another incompetent coach in a long list of incompetent US Youth National Team Coaches. What a joke!!
If I have said this before I apologize, but aren’t you impressed with our results since the US Academy system has come on line? Let’s see, we dashed the dreams of most kids first and then we took high school away from them too. Yes, it is all about the kids.Oh by the way, US lost big time to Ghana.