By Mike Woitalla
Hosted by South Korea, the U-20 World Cup games air in the USA in the middle of the night or very early in the morning. Based on the USA’s thrilling opener,fans should find it worth sacrificing sleep — or at least making sure the DVR is programmed — to follow the quest of Coach Tab Ramos’ team.
The start, however, could hardlyhave been worse for the USA, which went down, 2-0, after seven minutes. The team that for the first time in history arrived at a U-20 World Cup as Concacaf champion looked like it was headed for anshellacking.
But the USA regained its composure, led by its youngest player, the 17-year-old Josh Sargent, whom Ramos added to the squad after he led the U.S. U-17s in scoringin its successful U-17 World Cup qualifying campaign last month.
Sargent scored in the 36th minute and equalized the game in the 54th. Ecuador pulled ahead again in the 64th minute. But in thefourth minute of stoppage time, Luca de la Torre slammed home a shot from 14 yards to earn the USA a 3-3 tie.
“To dig yourselfout of this type of hole in a World Cup is not easy,” said Ramos. “Obviously, we have to give the team a lot of credit for that. I think the players did a great job.”
De laTorre, on the day before his 19th birthday, had also helped set up Sargent’s first goal.
“Obviously, we didn’t start well, so getting a point out of that game, after wegifted them two goals, is definitely a win for us in the end,” said De La Torre said. “We’re mentally strong. You can’t count us out of anything. It doesn’t matter ifwe’re 4-0 down, we’ll still have a chance of coming back.”
Scoreboard: U-20 World Cup
The USA had also started poorly in qualifying,falling to a short-handed Panama, 1-0, in its opener and falling behind, 1-0, to Haiti in its second game before winning, 4-1, in the tournament that included the USA’s 1-0 win over Mexico and a finalwin over Honduras on PKs after a scoreless tie.
“Obviously, our fight is always there, so we expect that,” Ramos said. “You’ve seen this team for the last year and ahalf and this team has a lot of character.
“We’re a high-press team. We like to come after teams. And, unfortunately, we made a couple of mistakes and we paid for that. Other thanthat, I’m very happy with the players and the team. It was a great effort.”
Ramos said he wasn’t upset at halftime:
“The first 10 minutes … thatwasn’t the plan. But I was not unhappy with the team. The adjustments at the end of the half were not many. There were a couple things that we wanted to do differently … to stretch outthe field a little more, because we played inside too much.”
Central defenders Cameron Carter-Vickers, a starter at the 2015 U-20 World Cup, and JustenGlad, a starter in qualifying and with Real Salt Lake, came into the tournament recovering from injuries and sat out the Ecuador game while Tommy Redding was outrun byWashington Corozo on the first goal and beaten by Brayan Cabezas on the second while right back Aaron Herrera was too far upfield to help.
Also of concern was the play of goalkeeper Jonathan Klinsmann, who on the first goal fouled Corozo as he passed the ball to Herlin Lino with a studs-up slide. Hadreferee Björn Kuipers not played advantage, and deemed the tackle “serious foul play,” that could have a DOGSO red card.
The second goal beat Klinsmann at thenear post, but it was a close-range rocket that may not have been savable. On the third goal, Herrera sent a back pass to Klinsmann, who while pressured from Wilter Ayovi andJoao Rojas, mis-kicked the ball to Cabezas for an easy finish.
Zack Steffen, now the Columbus Crew’s starting goalkeeper, played a major role in theUSA’s 2015 World Cup run to the quarterfinals, where they fell to eventual champion Serbia on PKs following a scoreless tie. In the 1-0 round of 16 win over Colombia, Steffen made big-time savesand stopped a penalty kick.
Steffen, however, also had a dodgy start to the tournament, failing to reach a corner kick that gave Myanmar an early lead before the USA came back for a 2-1 win inthe 2015 opener.
What does bode well for the USA, which faces Senegal on Thursday (7 a.m. ET, FS1, Telemundo En Vivo), is the attack, a concern for Ramos going into the tournament because hefelt it didn’t finish enough of its chances in qualifying.
Sargent scored with a fierce shot from 12 yards despite creating an awkward bounce with his first touch. And he scored hissecond by dropping down to head precisely after meeting a cross from Brooks Lennon, who had also delivered the cross that led to the clearance that De La Torre pounced on for thetying goal.
“I think this first game is a good learning experience and I think we’ll get better from here,” said Ramos.
For an imperfect start, this one showed enough promise to expecta good showing from the USA at the 2017 U-20 World Cup.
Youngest U.S.scorers at U-20 World Cup
Josh Sargent, the 17-year-old Missouri product who is still eligible for the U-17 World Cup, became the youngest U.S. player in historyto score in a U-20 World Cup when he struck twice in Monday’s 3-3 tie with Ecuador. He broke the 10-year-old mark set by Jozy Altidore.
Josh Sargent
YOUNGEST U.S. U-20 WORLD CUP SCORERS
Player (Year: Game) Age
Josh Sargent (2017: 3-3 vs.Ecuador) 17 years, 91 days
Jozy Altidore (2007: 6-1 vs. Poland) 17 years, 239 days
Troy Dayak (1989: 2-0 vs. East Germany) 18 years, 22 days
Freddy Adu (2007: 6-1 vs. Poland) 18 years, 31 days
Jeff Hooker (1983: 2-3 vs. Uruguay) 18 years, 73 days
Chris Henderson (1989: 2-1 vs.Iraq) 18 years, 76 days
Youngest U.S. debuts in Europe
At the age of 18 and less than a year after he left the FC Dallas academy, Weston McKennie made his debut for German club Schalke 04 on Saturday, becoming the seventh youngest American tomake his league debut in a major European league.
Youngest U.S. Teen Debuts (Major European Leagues)
1. Christian Pulisic(17 years, 3 months), Bor. Dortmund/GER (2016)
2. Freddy Adu (18 years, 3 months), Sporting/POR (2007)
3. *Neven Subotic (18 years, 5 months), Mainz/GER (2007)
4. Rubio Rubin (18years, 5 months), FC Utrecht/NED (2014)
5. Jonathan Spector (18 years, 5 months), Man. United/ENG (2004)
6. Michael Bradley (18 years, 7 months), Heerenveen/NED (2006)
7. WestonMcKennie (18, years, 8 months), Schalke 04/GER (2017)
8. Jozy Altidore (18 years, 9 months), Villarreal/SPA (2008)
9. Bryan Arguez (19 years), Hertha Berlin/GER (2008)
10. JoshPerez (19 years, 2 months), Fiorentina/ITA (2016)
*Later switched allegiance to Serbia.
Note: Jermaine Jones(German international before he became a U.S. international), David Regis (French citizen before being naturalized on eve of 1998 World Cup), Giuseppe Rossi (U.S.-born and -raisedItalian international) and Espen Baardsen(U.S.-born and -raised Norwegian international) also made league debuts as teens.
— PaulKennedy
U.S. U-19 women fall to Japan’s U-20s
The U.S. U-19 women’s national team, coached by Keri Sarver, fell, 1-0, to Japan’s U-20s in Carson, California.
May 19 in Carson, Calif.
USA 0 Japan 1. Goal: Yonei 14.
USA — Bollinger Mackin (Abello, 46), Hiatt (Rodriguez, 18), Girma, Pickett (Fisher, 79), Morse (French, 79), Winters(King, 85), Zandi (Coffey, 46), Ekic (Berkely, 79), Boade (Murtha, 46), Gee (Brewster, 46).
Japan — Suzuki, Muraoka (Kona, 50), Nagashima (Miyagawa), Yonei, Ono (Minami, 60),Imai (Takahashi, 60), Suzuki, Stambaugh, Sato (Takahira, 50), Yamada, Karahashi (Nagano, 50)
U.S. U-19 women’s national team
GOALKEEPERS (3): Hillary Beall (So Cal Blues; Laguna Beach, Calif.), Brooke Bollinger (Orlando City; Melbourne, Fla.), Zoe Clevely (Irvine Strikers; Huntington Beach, Calif.).
DEFENDERS (8): Kerry Abello (Eclipse Select; Batavia, Ill.), Malia Berkely (Florida State; Liberty Township, Ohio), Naomi Girma (Central Valley Crossfire; San Jose, Calif.), SamanthaHiatt (Stanford; Newcastle, Wash.), Tavia Leachman (Utah; Long Beach, Calif.), Julie Mackin (Clemson; Castle Rock, Colo.), Kaiya McCullough (UCLA; Mission Viejo, Calif.), Kiara Pickett (Eagles; SantaBarbara, Calif.).
MIDFIELDERS (6): Samantha Coffey (Match Fit Academy; Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.), Kristina Fisher (Miami; Jupiter, Fla.), Zoe Morse (Virginia; East Lansing, Mich.),Natalie Winters (Iowa; Plymouth, Mich.), Taryn Torres (FC Dallas; Frisco, Texas), Sydney Zandi (Penn Fusion; West Chester, Pa.).
FORWARDS (7): Theresa Boade (Real Colorado;Castle Rock, Colo.), Jordan Brewster (Internationals SC; North Canton, Ohio), Emina Ekic (Javanon FC; Fairdale, Ky.), Wrenne French (Tennessee SC; Franklin, Tenn.), Cecilia Gee (Stanford; Orinda,Calif.), Tziarra King (N.C. State; Sicklerville, N.J.), Cameron Murtha (Bethesda SC; Kensington, Md.).
I will take this result any day in the first game. Just go and win the remaining games and bring home that trophy. I definitely know we are defeating both Senegal and Saudi and getting into final 16.
A+ for the display of character and fortitude to come from behind after 0-2 and 2-3. F for the defensive lapses that yielded all three goals. As we make progress as an attacking nation, and such progress is obvious and exciting, there must be adherence to fundamental defensive shape and decision making. To attack well means to display creativity and speed of thought and mastery of the ball; to defend well means to concentrate, communicate and to provide pressure, cover and balance at the right depths and angles given the circumstances. The former is hard to achieve and requires great sophistication. The latter should be a given for the USA. Let’s hope the moments of attacking brilliance continue to blossom while the moments of witless defending disappear. The team is exciting and the future looks brighter.
Don’t sleep on Senegal, QB. That will be a very tough game.
Good article, a thanks to both writers.
QTD – what a cheerleader.
Fire, I am just a supporter who will ridicule and denounce all the weakness, unhealthy and shortcoming of anything soccer in US until we are at a level of a soccer superpower– Unlike me you guys are groupies who will do anything just to satisfy your low life self esteem..
Who knew all it takes is ridicule and complaining to create a superpower? Anyway, according to you we already are a superpower since we have by far the best squad at the U20 world cup and should win the competition despite missing at least a half dozen first-choice players.
Don, we will defeat Senegal.. the team has the physical play and skill to match up and defeat any Africans team– like I said this U20 team will take it all.
Hey knock off the juvenile stuff cause my dads meaner than your dad and he will beat him up. Take that you rascals.
Beating Senegal is a real possibility, but it won’t be an easy task. A win won’t mean that we are on our way to winning to the tournament just like a loss won’t mean that we are crap.