By COLE KELLOGG
Thanks to an unexpected 4-0 France win over the Netherlands on Thursday evening, the U.S. U-23 team will advance to the third place match in the Toulon Tournament.
The U.S. may have lost two out of four matches in Toulon, but wins against the Netherlands and Qatar gave the U-23s a slim chance to advance in the tournament, given that both results went their way today.
Exactly that scenario happened, as France pummeled the Netherlands 4-0 and Costa Rica drew Qatar 1-1 on the final day of the group stage in southern France.
The U.S. will now wait to find out what team they will face for the third place match on June 7. The game will be played against the second place team in Group B, which could be Mexico, Morocco, or England.
On Friday, Morocco will face off against Mexico at 10:50 a.m., while China playing England at 12:50 p.m. Both matches will be shown on beIN Sports.
‘Mexico would never finish 2nd to France’s u20’s at home!’
Mexico finishes 3rd to Morroco’s u20’s…
That’s Francesco Totti on the right. Gotta be.
JK absolutely needs to send Morris back for this game. He is not needed on the Sr team.
we need somebody… we dont have jozy, bedoya, clint, green, etc…
This team is missing Luis Gil and Villareal. Them two paird with Benji Hoya would be an iron-clad midfield that could feed Jordan and Julian all day! Too bad Gil turned them down and Jose was coming off injuries or this would have definitely been more entertaining.
Keswetter is talented but doesn’t have great decision making skills at the moment. I am less than impressed by Pelosi. He had been hyped up so much but seemed to be a step slower than his opponents.
well…. the core of the US U-21 might be a part of the U-23… in that case, Gedion will be the one feeding the balls to Green, Keswetter and Rubin.
yep, Pelosi is not showing anything, his problem might be mental more than physical.
For once I’m going to pat myself on the back and say I told you so! What am I talking about? I am talking about all those people that were like, “what an accomplishment, we beat the Netherlands, a team that is far superior to us, blah blah”. Like I said, don’t make the error of assuming that a country’s youth-team will be on par with that country’s senior-team. They may be wearing the same uniform but are completely different teams, with different players, from different generations.
Mexico is ALWAYS destroyed by the U.S. you troll. Nice try.
Not in soccer at least
Recently? Are you sure about that?
#DosaCero
What about “cinco a cero?”
When you call me troll it means you lost the argument.
France U-20 tops the group ahead of US U-23, unacceptable. That would not happen to MEX U-23.
It’s the France u-21. And don’t get ahead of yourself, you will probably get a chance to see the MEX u-23 against that same France u-21 in the final. Don’t talk until you see if Mexico beats France.
yes, it’d be unacceptable… except France’s U-21 probably train together day in and day out… I believe the US U-23 team just got together 2 times in 12 months…
1. Morocco u20
2. England u20
3! Mexico u23
If the tournament ran just a couple days later, Mexico’s u20 could have tagged in for the last match. I understand their weekend is free.
Great news, the more games this group gets the better chance we have come qualifying. All the guys will be rested, perhaps we can get Jordan Morris back and come out of the week with some confidence and knowledge of who can help us in the future.
Holland! Ishnt that veird?!
No. They got outplayed by France, USA and Costa Rica even though they actually beat Costa Rica 3-2. So obviously they weren’t that great of a team.
“Jordan…quickly, get in mien helicopter! Toulon…schnell, schnell!”
Jorda, hurry… get to choppah!!!
Hahahahahahaha. Both comments were perfect
Agreed. Well done.
LOL
Nice and totally unexpected.
You do know that Mexico is going to play the final, right?
They might play in the final. They still have to play Morocco and get at least a draw. I hope Morocco wins. I don’t want to see Mexico in another final and doing better than the U.S. once again.
If Morocco beats Mexico, then we will either play Mexico or England depending on goal-difference. I am assuming England will beat China and beat them by multiple goals.
Good for them! After the faceplant their u20 squad has turned in, it’s nice to see their u23’s experiencing success against u20 competition.
Good for them! After the faceplant their u20 squad has turned in, it’s nice to see their u23’s having some success against u20 competition.
I’ll just repost a reply of mine to this odd line of thinking:
I thought teams tended to salvage draws and earn 3 points. “Salvaging” three points, particularly through two well-taken opportunities against Uruguay, is no small task. That being a Uruguayan team that saw off Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Paraguay in the qualifiers for the tournament. A u20 WC is a tough tournament. Take for instance Conmebol champs Argentina who are struggling having lost to Ghana (who lost to Mali in u20 qualifiers) and tied against Panama (who beat the U.S. in u20 qualifiers). IMO its still early on in the tournament to be throwing rocks at other teams, especially when an assessment of group/opponent’s strengths so far isn’t in one’s favor. The real tests are yet to come – don’t want to have to eat crow later.
They’ll make it through (U-20), believe me.
How high do you have to place among 4th place teams to advance?
Much as I love US Soccer, I am happy to admit we have a somewhat incredible record of backing into second-rounds. Pretty much all of our knockout-round World Cup efforts have involved fortuitous results/bailouts/last-second heroics, at least to some extent …. not to mention the 2009 Confed Cup was supposedly over for us going into the last day of the group stage.
But you make your own luck, right? 🙂
I am guessing Morris will be unavailable for this match? Or will there be a private jet waiting to rush him from Amsterdam to Toulon to at least be a sub?