By Mike Woitalla
The USA, which finished second in Group A after falling 3-0 to Ukraine, will face Colombia in the round of 16 of the U-20 World Cup on Wednesday (3:30 am ET) inWellington, New Zealand. Coach Tab Ramos‘ team will aim to become the first U.S. team to win a knockout stage game at the U-20 World Cup since 2007.
The Americans opened withwins over Myanmar (2-1) and New Zealand (4-0) before missing an opportunity to top their group with a tie or win over Ukraine. Group A winner Ukraine faces Senegal, which finished behind Portugal andColombia in Group D.
USA-Ukraine: Player Ratings
Under-20 World Cup:
U.S. coach Tab Ramos said thesecond-place finish does not put the USA at a disadvantage.
“No, not really,” he said. “Look, you want to come in first place because it takes your team’s good momentum into thesecond round. But at this point, any team we play is going to be a good team, so it doesn’t really matter.”
Colombia finished second in Group C after a 3-1 loss to undefeatedPortugal on Saturday. Los Cafeteros opened with a 1-0 win over Qatar and tied Senegal, 1-1.
Colombia and Senegal look to be foes of equal caliber. What’s troubling about the USA’s performanceagainst Ukraine isn’t so much a blown opportunity to win the group, but how tame the USA looked after its lively performance against New Zealand.
“Well, obviously it was a very difficultmatch for us [against Ukraine],” Ramos said. “We wanted to do all we could to not let the game open up. I thought the guys did a pretty good job for a long period of time. Unfortunately it was a freekick goal that opened up the game a little bit. We got right back in it by getting a PK that unfortunately we couldn’t convert. And then obviously the game opened up, and Ukraine is too fast forus. They play that counterattack game really well and when you let the game open up that way, you can find yourself in trouble against them, and we did.”
Tab Ramos. (Courtesy of U.S. Soccer)
Ramos kepttwo defenders carrying yellows — Desevio Payne and Matt Miazga — on the bench against Ukraine to prevent a round-of-16 suspensions. Shaq Moore, whohas shared duties at right back with Payne, carried a yellow card into the Ukraine. Three more players — Marky Delgado, Kellyn Acosta and Jordan Allen — pickedup cautions as the USA committed 22 fouls against Ukraine.
“The No. 1 priority [against Ukraine] – we knew we were in the second round – but obviously we had some guys with yellowcards, and we tried to protect them,” Ramos said. “Unfortunately late in the first half Marky got a yellow card as well, so we had to take him off the field. Obviously, we wanted to win the game, butwe wanted to get to the second round with our full squad ready to go, and I think we ended the game with everyone available, and everyone’s healthy for the next game so I think we’re ingood shape.”
The Americans went into halftime with a scoreless tie against Ukraine despite a 45-55 percent possession deficit. Vicktor Kovalenko started his second-halfhat trick with a 30-yard free kick.
“We had a game plan and I think we executed well in the first half, but obviously we fell apart a little bit, and maybe some good individual play on theirside and obviously a good free kick on their side,” said U.S. forward Bradford Jamieson. “But all we have to do is worry about the next game, obviously we’re on to the nextround. We have to capitalize on whoever we’re playing in the next match.”
Bad showing for Concacaf
The USA is the only Concacaf team to survive group play at the U-20 World Cup. Mexico, which entered as Concacaf champion, was ousted from the 2015 World Cup with a 2-0 loss to Serbia.
ElTri, third-place finisher at the 2011 U-20 World Cup, opened with a 2-0 loss to Mali in which two Mexicans and one Mali player were ejected, before beating Uruguay, 2-1, on a stoppage time free kickby Kevin Gutierrez. The Serbia loss left El Tri with three points and last place in Group D. At the 2013 U-20 World Cup, Mexico advanced to the round of 16 as a third-place groupfinisher and fell to Spain, 2-1.
Honduras beat Uzbekistan (4-3) and but was upset by Fiji (3-0) before falling, 5-1, to Germany. Panama opened with a 2-2 over Argentina before losses toAustria (2-1) and Group B winner Ghana (1-0)
High-scoring Down Under
The first round of U-20 World Cup actionaveraged 3.4 goals per game. Germany (16 goals) has been the most prolific in its first three games, followed by Portugal (10), Ukraine (9) and Brazil (9).
Vicktor Kovalenko,who scored a hat trick against the USA, leads the tourney in scoring. The 19-year-old joined FC Shakhtar Donetsk’s youth program in 2013 and made his Ukrainian Premier League debut last February.
U-20 World Cup leading scorers
Viktor Kovalenko (Ukraine) 5
Marc Stendera (Germany) 4
AndreSilva (Portugal) 4
Bence Mervo (Hungary) 4
Hany Mukhtar (Germany) 4
Niklas Stark (Germany) 3
After opening the four-team 2015 U-20 Women’s NTC Invitational in SouthernCalifornia with a 3-0 loss to Japan, the U.S. U-20 women finished runner-up with a 2-1 winover Brazil and a 1-0 win over Mexico. The 17-year-old Mallory Pugh scored both gamewinners and set up Taylor Racioppi’s opening goal against Brazil.
Pugh struck against Brazil after winning the ball deep in her own half and embarking on an 80-yard run.
Japan won the tournament crown by outscoring its three foes, 16-0. Brazil finished third and Mexico, which lost 2-0 to Brazil, finished four fourth.
USA 2 Brazil 1. Goals: Racioppi (Pugh) 21, Pugh 74; Gabriela Silva 57.
USA — Murphy; Flores,Jacobs, Riehl, Petersen; Roberts, DeMelo (Ogle, 59), Buckingham (Canales, 46), Pugh; Harr (Hedge, 57), Racioppi (Sanchez, 69).
Brazil — Maria Silva; Bender, Beatriz, Ribeiro,Carolina Oliveira; Bianchi, Bender (Silva, 46), Silva, Matos; Calderan, Boilesen (Grassetti, 83).
Referee: Jasmine Peralta (USA).
Att.: 250.
U.S. starters vs. Mexico. (Courtesy of U.S.Soccer)
June 4 in Carson, Calif.
USA 1 Mexico 0. Goal: Pugh (Racioppi) 45.
USA — Murphy, Elliston(Petersen, 46), Riehl, Jacobs, Flores, Harvey (DeMelo, 46), Ogle (Roberts, 62), Canales (Sanchez, 46), Pugh, Harr (Hedge, 80), Racioppi (Kerner, 62).
Mexico — Barreras,Rodriguez, Flores, Bernal, Orejel, Antonio, Flores, Crowther, Gonzalez (Cruz, 72), Palacios (Martinez, 88), Vazquez.
Referee: Samantha Moos (USA).
Att.:400.
TAB, Just put Rubin, Arriola, Zelalem and Jamieson Up Front, with Hyndman behind them AND LET THEM PLAY!!! … Don’t try to Overthink it or Overcoach it… Let them Express themselves, like against New Zealand… No more Straight Jackets like against Ukraine…Put Carter-Vickers at Holding Mid instead of Delgado… 4-1-1-4
re: BU20, we looked good against NZ because they sat back and let us play. That will not be the case going forward. When we can’t convert a PK there is a lack of understanding about the process. Watch the replay–the keeper is able to read the shot based on Hyndman’s posture before the kick (and just because you’re the captain shouldn’t mean you are the default PK taker). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITp9HfuYGfs see :56 into 2:10. Nothing could have been done about the excellent free kick, but the other 2 goals were due to poor defending. At 1:10, you’ve got an unmarked man at the 6. At 1:26, you’ve got 3 defenders against 3 with an attacker offside but one defender is diving in. It’s poor defending against counterattacks that killed the game.