By FRANCO PANIZO
The U.S. U-20 men's national had its chances, but lackluster finishing and defending saw its CONCACAF U-20 Championship campaign end with no World Cup ticket to claim.
The United States was eliminated from the regional tournament and failed to qualify for the World Cup with a 2-1 loss to Guatemala in the quarterfinals at Estadio Mateo Flores in Guatemala City on Wednesday night. Henry Lopez scored the game-winner in the second half, finishing a one-timed shot past Zac MacMath two minutes after Conor Doyle had equalized for the Americans.
The loss not only eliminated the United States, but also gave Guatemala its first World Cup qualification ever. The result was a crushing blow to Thomas Rongen's side, which was considered by the head coach to be among the most talented he had coached at the youth level.
An inspired Guatemala team began the match with good energy, but it nearly conceded a goal early on as Kelyn Rowe had a pair of open looks that he failed to convert. The Americans also struggled to send in a final ball despite getting into Guatemala's final third often, partly because of Greg Garza's contributions as a left winger and Joe Gyau being marked heavily on the right flank.
The hosts withstood the pressure and attempted to find a goal rather than sit back and defend, an approach that payed dividends as in the 33rd minute Gerson Lima found an open lane and headed home a corner kick. Lima was unmarked as he made his run and MacMath did a poor job of coming off his line to intercept the ball, which floated into the 6-yard box.
That goal, along with the United States continued squandering of chances, gave the Guatemalans and its home crowd confidence.
That was until Amobi Okugo made a nice run down the center of the field before releasing a pinpoint pass to Doyle, who beat the offside trap and equalized for the Americans with a chipped shot in the 66th minute.
The Americans weren't celebrating for long as two minutes later a long ball saw Perry Kitchen move up the field to clear it, leaving an open gap behind him. Guatemala recovered the ball and lofted it into the vacated area, and Gale Agbossoumonde's challenge to clear it from an attacker saw them both fall down, resulting in Lopez's finish from the center of the penalty box.
The United States attempted to find another equalizer, but the hostile crowd and bunkered in Guatemalan side proved too much to overcome.
What do you think of the United States' 2-1 loss to Guatemala? How upset are you that the Americans couldn't pull out the win? Who were you impressed/disappointed by? Think Rongen should go?
Share your thoughts below.
This is a bummer, but oh well. It’s U20 kids. Half may be decent pros, the other half will fade away. Think of the last U20’s people were all hot and bothered about. Sal Zizzo, Danny Szetela, Freddy Adu. None of those guys are tearing up any leagues anytime soon. And these dudes were supposed to be good.
I did not make any derogatory comments about Guatamala, and I would’ve been the first to congratulate them as I love it when an underdog prevails through heart and determination. However, after watching their display of diving and feigning serious injury, I just cant get myself to compliment and congratulate them. It may be part of the game for some, but I think it’s a disgrace and will not honor a team that behaves that way. The US players and coach congratulated them and that is enough.
I had a bad feeling that we were going to lose. Terrible, for all the supposed talent this group of U-20’s had, and they did not qualify.
another brain fart from you…p u
this isn’t as big of a deal as everyone is making it out to be. the U-20 world cup is a good place for these young guys to be noticed and sign professional contracts, but most of these guys are already professionals, and Kelyn Rowe is sure to be one soon. relax, teams like italy, germany, and the netherlands fail to qualify, and they are clearly doing just fine.
also, keep in mind this was without Agudelo and Gatt, two big players for this team, were absent
Reply to Josh D …
Bradley outcoached Fabio because the US won the group, with inferior players. And two good goals taken away.
Some of you idiots need to show some class. A much less talented opponent beat a very talented and deep US team because it had more balls and more heart. Plain and simple.
Do not make derogatory comments on Guatemala the country, instead congratulate the great heart, balls and guts their soccer team showed.
Show some freaking class!!!!
well heart is worth more than your “money and your infrastructure”. What good is your “money and infrastructure”it if your team has no heart?
youre a tard for even talking about that when it comes to soccer.
as hilarious as it would’ve been, I’m fairly certain that wasn’t the pregame speech. But your point is taken, they certainly weren’t in the right mindset. But that is also on the players. These are kids but also professionals, They are expected to be up for games. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way, and they really aren’t so skilled that they can just sleepwalk through ANY team that tries hard, and has 20,000 raving fans behind them…
What were the tactics? I don’t know, and I don’t think anyone else does. I’m sure though that Rongen’s plan WASN’T “alright guys, pass the ball, then trap it terribly, then get flustered a send either a very poor short ball or blast it up field”. I’m not trying to be a jerk here, but you could’ve had Pep Guardiola setting up this team tactically, but it wouldn’t have made any difference b/c at least last night, the team couldn’t even perform BASIC tasks properly.
Overwhelming stage seemed to me. That statdium was crazy, and those teenagers didn’t respond well to it. how many excellent chances were missed?
Rongen should be n trouble. He’s been around for a long time, and to claim it’s his best team and stumble like this should not bode well for him.
Congratulations Guatemala. You earned it.
We are also in the least competitive Confederation in the world. The gap between the top and bottom is larger than the poor and the rich.
And in our region, our boys are world class compared to our opponents. You have to put it in context for this game.
I’m embarrassed for the team and it’s because, in my humble opinion, the boys came out cocky and were not in the game with their hearts. If they played with heart and left it all on the field, it’s a job well done to the boys. But the way they just strutted out there was the wrong mentality from the start.
You can imagine the coaches warmup speech “Boys, we have already won. In 90 minutes, we’ll be relaxing and looking forward to Colombia.” That’s the speech you give a team with no hope. Not a team that’s expected to win against a baby team. You should put a mentality in that everyone is against us and this is the hardest game of our lives.
Poor coaching. Tactics wrong, subs wrong – reminds me of a certain Senior.
wish I had read this last night; would have helped me to fall asleep faster
Look, I’m not one of those guys always asking for Bradley’s head on a platter, but Rongen must go. At least as a coach, and keep him on for player development. You can point to 4 critical coaching mistakes by him last night:
1) Garza, normally a left back, at left forward/attacker. That’s like putting Boca or…gulp…Bornstein there. ZOINKS!
2) Zone marking defense that he preaches cost us the first goal
3) Boss was clearly hurt bad in the 5th minute. Not at least subbing him at the half possibly cost us the second goal. No way a healthy Boss gets muscled down like that.
4) Too late on subs
WORD!!! I am sick of getting the shaft from the region, FIFA, etc.
we always have to overcome the BS, because the BS is a given
weak
+10000000000000000000000000
Never thought of that…
Josh D, you’ve been a hater forever on Michael. you obviously can’t get over your own perpsective even when the facts shoot you down. congratulations
I love the constant coach bashing that goes on in the US system. As if we have world class players at every level, and it’s the coaches that hold them back…
I believe that we hold the record for most consecutive Youth World cups qualified for, and that has been done with amateurs, while most countries players are all in professional setups. That probably has a lot to do with quality coaching covering up the players flaws. Also, when other coaches talk about playing the US, the first thing they ALWAYS comment on is our teams’ “Tactical Awareness”, NOT how talented we are, or how many star players we have. But how good tactically we are…
I know it’s easy to get into this mode thinking that kids like Guyau (sp?), Lletget and Kitchen are gonna be great players; But, I gotta say, they really aren’t that good, at least not right now. Kitchen looked Terrible last night, and the other two, while they have good skills, seemed to be playing one on three last night every possession.
I’m not saying Rongen should stay, maybe it is time for him to leave, he’s been there for a long time; BUT, it’s not his fault that his players are incapable of possessing the ball for longer than 4 passes, or that the midfield and forwards offered almost no support to one another in terms of passing options. This is stuff players need to figure out, and they couldn’t. Players need to have the requisite skills to play properly, and if they don’t, which we didn’t at least last night, it’s not the coaches fault…
My final point, these are still just kids, and they went into a foreign country with a really loud crowd, that’s daunting, regardless of the competition. I mean look at what happens to our senior team against teams like costa Rica and Honduras away, teams that we rarely have trouble with at home. While concacaf doesn’t have the best teams, I would say that it does have probably some of the most hostile environments of any federation, as these KIDS saw last night. Lesson learned, and they will be better because of it.
excellent post. thanks
Come off it mate. Perhaps two years ago but even when he was playing this season in Germany he was behind Jones and Holden. Even now, Edu has come leaps and bounds for Rangers but hasn’t been able to play in the same position as he does for club.
For me it’s: Holden>Jones>Bradley>Edu
no insight from you. keep poeting tho
yawn.
Bravo, the first to give props to the winning team. I endorse this message.
you are an insightful poster, balanced in perspective. thanks
You’re insane – out coached Fabio? To a draw? Big win there……
The problem with US mentality – a draw is something to be proud of.
classy
Ok, you’re arrogant. : )
Yeah, teams should just be given invites to competitions and fore go the qualifiers. That way it could be just like a private club for only the elite. : )
Amen. That’s why big teams lose the smallest teams…. We came in cocky and looking at some of our fans from yesterday, the fans were cocky. You play with pride and heart no matter who you play.
Absolutely gutted this morning….. My fiancee and I had intentions of seeing them play this summer when we visited Colombia…..
Again, disappointment with the national team and a lot of potential left wanting. Sadly, this time I can’t blame it on Bradley : (
Well, then, technically martga was right. Bradley has played more minutes for Villa than Jones has for Blackpool!
Well said. Someone who gets it. . .
I think US fans (shoot, plenty of “journos” do the same) invest way too much into these youth tournaments and fail to see the big picture.
I hear a lot of how the coaching was poor, but nobody ever explains why. I’m not saying you’re wrong or full of it, I would just like you to explain a little more
The US National team coaching is a disgrace, thanks to that economics professor running the show….Sunil Gulati…
1st Bunker Bob had the golden opportunity to take us to the Copa Mundo quarters and then the semis and he inserts Rico Clark instead of Mo Edu and went back to bumkering after LD’s PK…
2nd Rongen misjudged and angered Subotic – look at our tattered CB’s now….and to lose with the most talented U-20 team – awful coaching!
3rd Sundhage loses to England, but at least it was a friendly…
All a reflection of the man at the top who selected these bozos for coaches – FIRE GULATI AND ADVANCE U.S. SOCCER FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!!
Who’s still better than every other CM we have.
Seriously, people who cannot understand that Bradley Jr is our best CM, despite his playing time or not do not know anything about soccer. Their opinions on Bradley Jr are entrenched in his father not on his individual performances.
NOt to mention Argentina. They’ve won a few u-20s themselves, and they haven’t advanced past the quarterfinals in the World Cup since 1990.
Another poster here said it best. A one-off elimination game against a Central American country on their home turf with a bunch of teenagers isn’t a referendum on US Soccer.
However, I think it is a referendum on Thomas Rongen who himself has admitted this is the best team he’s ever had.
I hope this shows at the very least he needs to go.
you think they will. come on this was the time to see what the future will bring. I think is going to be a waste of talent cause the poor coaching. I think this kids had plenty of time to win that game but Rogen didn’t do well on the sub. Now I’m afraid that we most loose some key players especially the kid that is playing in the Bayern. or maybe other one that were not call to this qualifying stage. I just don’t know..
That is why you play the game. Soccer is like a lot of other sports where the best team doesn’t always win.
Sooner or later our record of qualifying for every youth WC was going to end.
I like Rongen as the coach of the U-20’s because he’s great at identifying players and does a great job recruiting. Sure he may not be the best game coach, but I prefer to have a coach that can bring players in and lose verses a coach who can’t recriut but can coach.
There’s no denyng that there are a few gems in this group Lletget, Gyau, Agudelo and Wood and that’s what really matters.
You can only tip your hat to Guatemala, they deserved to win and I think this win is more important for a small country like theirs then ours.
by the way, why not get Caleb Porter to coach the U-20 teams. He would do a fantastic job!
@A said…
Yes I’m with you on this one. I saw that US U20 came in to this game like they were already qualify to the world cup, too cocky, and if you saw how Guatemala came in as they really want this game. I love my USA but heck I have to give it to Guatemala. I don’t know why rogen didn’t start the same team that play the first game. And like always I don’t know why every coach in the USA always have to keep their sub a the last moment and when they do is already too late or the wrong subs. I don’t know what happen to Bobby Wood.
First of all, Kudos to Guatemala for pulling out the upset…. secondly, like many have said, it is not the end of the world for these players. Many of them already are playing professionally and are in a great learning environment. If anything, this tournament shows how young american players handle real-must-win-game pressure… (make your own conclusions here)
I love how one upset victory is being interpreted as US Soccer being fundamentally broken….. really.
Listen, for the people who actually stayed up to watch the game (which I unfortunately did), US put Guatemala under some early pressure for the first 15 minutes, and missed some great chances, but once Guate withstood that early surge, you can see them growing in confidence and the US struggle under the pressure they put them under.
The first goal was a culmination of poor marking by Okugo (I think) and MacMath failing to come out. Guatemala’s two forwards constantly harassed Kitchen and ‘Boss and they did not deal well with their work rate. Guate played a simple game of long balls, pressure on the ball when they did not possess it and crosses into the box. The second Guate goal was a culmination of a terrible attempt of playing the ball by Kitchen, Moises Hernandez’s poor marking on Lopez and ‘Boss inability to deal with Lopez’s surging run.
The majority of the team was poor, and I really felt were struggling with Guate’s pressure and the hostile crowd. There were a couple of standouts, Joe Gyau was an absolute handful most of the night and besides the poor marking on the first goal, Amobi Okugo played admirably in the midfield. Greg Garza did a solid job as well. Other than that, I don’t have too many positive things to say. Kitchen and MacMath I felt were terrible, and Conor Doyle had a bad first touch most of the night and spent more time offside than onside.
They play that game 10 more times and the US wins 8 of them. But all fairness to Guatemala, they came out to play the US and not bunker down, they played to their strengths and have qualified for their first ever U-20 World Cup.
your ≠you are
Also, Jermaine does not play for Blackpool lol.
What class.
If you like Cabrera, you should hope that he stays at U17 level. This is the most critical group in youth development. The U17 WC is more heavily scouted than U20. Many of the world’s top young players play in U17 world cup and transition directly to the senior national team rather than to U20. Take Neymar, for example, or even Agudelo.
Disaapointing and the team has no excuses. But they will grow from this experience. However, if you think it is a coincidence that the U20’s have to play the host’s in a must win game just after the US WNT had to play Mexico at home in a must win WC qualifying game then you are naive. What I cant stand about Gulati is that he takes all this crap. How many more times is the US going to be assigned corrupt refs in important matches – Lorrionda anyone?
ha. nice! +1
Ha ha, hit the nail on the head.
A terrible disappointment for the U20s. Call me arrogant, but I believe we should always qualify for competitions like this at every level.
Most of the US coaches are foreign. Rongen is Dutch and has dutch coaching licenses. Former U23 coach Nowak is Polish and played in Europe. The U17 coach is is foreign. We probably have one American coach in all of US soccer and that is Bob Bradley. Who, by the way, out-coached Fabio Capello, a foreigner brought in by England that was supposed to be the best coach in the world. He is a disaster for them with the amount of money he costs. No team has ever won a world cup with a foreign coach. How does that prove your point about needing foreigners? Also, the Japanese league happens to be currently looking at MLS for answers to its financial issues and how to structure a league.
Disappointing. Period. Needs to get better.
Don’t know whichpart of East L.A. this coach got these talentless players, my local high school team is far and away better than that. Guatemala? are you kidding me.
A lot of this seems like an overreaction. Yes it is disappointing and yes the team should have qualified, but the USA has gotten to the point that by the U-20 level most of our players are at international academies or playing professionally. That is where they spend most of their time and where they will develop their game, not at USA camps for a few weeks at a time. The point of our U-20 system is identifying possible players that can go on to help our senior team. With this aspect I think Rongen has done a pretty good job.
This was a tough game in a tougher environment. In general the passing, movement and combination play that the team showed was pretty fantastic and something I haven’t seen from a US squad.Just because two mistakes made by kids in a single elimination game is not justification for a complete overhaul of the system.