By FRANCO PANIZO
All the U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team needs is a win to book a place in the knockout rounds of the World Cup, but the Americans know that improvements are needed and that could lead to several lineup changes.
The U.S. is set for its second Group A match on Tuesday (3 am ET, Fox Sports 1), taking on tournament hosts New Zealand at North Harbor Stadium in New Zealand. Picking up three points in that match will assure the Americans of an early spot in the quarterfinals, but U.S. head coach Tab Ramos will likely look to make a number of adjustments to his lineup after a subpar performance in Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Myanmar.
One of the first orders of business for Ramos could be to replace forward Maki Tall, who scored a goal and impressed vs. Myanmar before coming off early in the second half due to unspecified reasons. If Tall is injured and unable to go, Ramos has several talented but vastly different options at his disposal, including Bradford Jamieson and Tommy Thompson.
There could be a few other tweaks to the starting lineup, too. The U.S. struggled to keep the ball for stretches in its Group A opener and had a tough time dealing with Myanmar’s pressure, and that may force Ramos to insert different players like Gedion Zelalem and Paul Arriola in order to improve the Americans’ chances of securing another win.
Who will start against New Zealand? Here is the lineup SBI could see Ramos going with:
If Tall is unavailable, itmeans that there could be, at a minimum, one change for this game. Bradford Jamieson seems the most likely to be inserted into the lineup if that’s the case, especially since it was he who came off the bench to fill in for Tall against Myanmar and helped set up Emerson Hyndman’s winner with an off-the-ball run that drew a pair of defenders.
Rubio Rubin should once again fill the other spot up top. Rubin grew as the match at Northland Events Center in Whangarei wore on, finding himself on the ball more often and setting up teammates with some scrumptious passes in front of goal. More of that will be needed in order to help break down a New Zealand side that will probably be more defensive-minded than Myanmar was.
In the midfield, Gedion Zelalem seems a good bet to earn his first start under Ramos in one of the tucked-in midfield roles. Zelalem had a mixed showing in such a spot in the U.S.’s Group A opener, but his composure on the ball and vision might be needed here in order to help the Americans maintain possession better than they did on Saturday.
Hyndman, the U.S. captain, should again be starting in the more advanced midfield spot. He impressed against Myanmar with his passing, poise, and aggressiveness while deployed there, and Ramos will likely not want to fix a position that isn’t broken.
The other two midfield spots could be up for grabs after Jordan Allen turned in a quiet shift while Marco Delgado struggled mightily, but Ramos will probably not be keen on disrupting chemistry by making too many changes to his diamond setup. If Ramos opts to keep just one of them in the lineup, Allen stands the better chance. Delgado had a tough time serving as the defensive midfielder in the win over Myanmar, and Ramos could choose to sacrifice him in favor of the more relatively experienced Kellyn Acosta.
Acosta moving up into the No. 6 role would leave a hole at left back, one that could be filled by either Desevio Payne or John Requejo. Payne might be the preferred option here, however, given that he has seen more first-team minutes at the club level in recent months.
The rest of the back line should be untouched, as Ramos opts to keep some semblance of consistency. The centerback duo of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Matt Miazga was rock solid, and Shaquell Moore showed enough offensively in spurts to keep his place at right back. Goalkeeper Zack Steffen may have had a major hiccup vs. Myanmar, but his place in the lineup is as safe as anyone’s.
What do you think of this projected lineup? Agree that you see Zelalem getting the nod here? Who should replace Tall if he is indeed injured?
Share your thoughts below.
Hay mamah, the host nation. We don’t have a good history of performing well against the host nations. And, after that narrow win against the worst ranked team in this tourney, don’t be surprised with zero points from this game.
I supposed endless trolling makes you feel better about Mexico’s loss to start this tournament and the fact they haven’t beaten the US in four years.
And I thought I had you figured out. Hasta la vista amigo.
Anyone know if fox will re-air the game some time besides midle of the night?
Doesn’t look like it, from the guide. I’m furiously trying to find something–ANYTHING–that will let me watch a replay when I wake up tomorrow. No DVR. No fun.
Game is at 3am ET.
Get up and watch it live – then have a stiff cup of coffee and meet the day like you just flew a red eye from overseas and power through the day.
We will win!
Go USA!
Some people actually work here.
his comment actually assumes this much……..
I was excited to see responses to this, because I thought it’d be useful information.
It looks like Fox Soccer 2 go has full match replays. Anybody know how soon after a game it shows up?
27 minutes, 33 seconds exactly
Productive comment.
Christ c’mon man…. this is not nearly as hard as you are making it. Just check Fox Sports 2 Go for the most recent game (currently Ukraine-Myanmar) and see if it’s up yet. If not, then go back, to the last one, etc…. basic– they might even have the post times.
Actually, this is so easy I just did it for you. Ukraine-Myanmar is up, which ended 3 hours ago. So you should be fine.
Anything else? Breakfast in bed?
Aside from the loss of Tall, I like this lineup a whole lot more than the one that started the last time. Though some of that is hindsight, especially after Sonora disappointed.
I def agree that it is time that Zelelam starts. When he entered the match last game, you can tell there was someone there that can keep possession and have a link to the forwards. He is the only that i have seen on this team be able to do that. I think he needs to play underneath the forward(s) and he will bridge that gap we saw vs. Myanmar.
Yes, there were times that he was out of sync but thats expected.
A shame about Tall. Nice player but I do not think it is a deal breaker. Rubin needs to step up and can.
From what I saw, the biggest concern for me were the outside backs.
“He is the only that i have seen on this team be able to do that”
Did you see Hyndman play? He was clearly in better form than GZ.
True, Hyndman played really well and was the lynch pin of the midfield.
No argument that Hyndman was clearly better form than GZ and player of the match for us. that quote from me was poorly worded on my part.
There still needed to be that link to the attacking side of the field. Someone in that CAM(ish) role that was confident with the ball, moving into smart spaces in and around the box.
I just saw too many basic vertical runs of trying to beat the offsides trap. When GZ came in, watching off the ball, I saw a difference in possession on the attacking side. Dont get me wrong, GZ made mistakes and turnovers. But that will go away with acclimation.
If GZ can get acclimated with this team quick, this team will go far.
The combination of Hyndman and GZ is exciting to think about for the future. Especially since they are playing together now on the youth level.
The future is bright. I don’t remember a time where we had any u20’s with full team caps?
Good stuff, Jesse D
So… Off topic a bit, but I am hearing rumors from the Brazilian Soccer Federation that they have been unofficially contacted by UEFA and Concacaf RE: exiting FIFA… The word is that US and UEFA are looking to strike an agreement with Brazil and Argentina to form an new organization… Lets call it IFF (international Football Federation).
Thoughts?
I mean, I was a little taken aback, then it kind of made some sense… so I am curious if anyone else has heard anything.
Ives?
Source?
The Onion!
Oh give me a break.
You’re gonna hear tons of empty rhetoric due to the corruption arrests, but I guarantee you that nothing significant will change in world soccer.
good start… but what do you do with Concacaf members? they are corrupt too… I wouldve thought that Conmebol leader were upset at the US as leaders from Venezuela, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil were outed.
Of course they should. Nations like Brazil, Argentina, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and a handful of others should create their own World Cup of 24 teams like it used to be, and the rest of the countries are either invited by vote or qualify in a tourney. That way, the USMNT would be finally able to win a FIFA WC with Green, Ibarra and Wondo.
Wait, beating Myanmar and New Zealand gets you to the knockout stage? Interesting tournament.
2 wins (6 points) in a round robin tournament almost always gets you out of the group..
Yeah, but I was surprised at how weak the group was. Did New Zealand get an automatic seed for hosting?
It’s just math. The U.S. has 3 points, NZ 1, Ukraine 1, Myanmar 0. Beating New Zealand means the U.S. is at 6, and the most NZ could earn is 4. Only one of Ukraine or Myanmar could get to 7 or 6 points, guaranteeing the U.S. is in the top 2.
The critical part in your comment is “beating New Zealand.” Possible, but not guaranteed.
There is no denying that we got a favorable draw, at least on paper. But we have already seen that Myanmar where not the joke side some speculated…. and playing the host country always comes with risks. If we go falling behind early like we did in the opener, we could find ourselves in hot water.
But yeah— sometimes you draw Germany, Portugal and Ghana at these things. And sometimes you draw this group. Certainly, we prefer the latter. But an argument can be made that having a very easy group does not entirely benefit the team once the competition steps up in the knockout round.
Sooner or later, you have to play a team like Germany if you want to accomplish big things, and hopefully the team is prepared to deal with a brutal step-up in opposition quality when that time comes. For example, we’d all like to see us use this limited time against beatable opposition to get a guy like Zelalem properly integrated (assuming he is the real deal). Obviously, the other night showed that this has not happened yet.
If Myanmar was not the joke, then who was the joke?
Who was the joke? That’s easy…Mexico.
Mexico was the joke.
Funny, right?
No, Myanmar is a joke side but our performance against them wasn’t funny. On the other hand, several big countries got off to slow starts against weaker opposition, including Columbia against Qatar so at least we are in good company. Hopefully it gets better.
Maki Tall out for the tourney: broken toe
suuuucks. just when he was integrating himself
players have played with worse injuries… but speed being his forte then yeah, he’s done.
Don’t worry, Zelalem will step up to the plate.
But Tall and Zelalem don’t play the same position?
Jozy is injured, don’t worry Diskerud will step up.
—–Jamieson————–Rubin
——————-Senora—————
—-Hyndman—————Zelalem
——————Acosta——————
-Requejo–Miazga–CCV—Payne
—————-Steffen———————–
Predictions
Sorta like this, but Zelalem will not get the start. Sonora & Allen will. Also Payne & Moore on the outside.
moore sucks so bad offensively
I like your line-up. We have to play Zelalem.