The U.S. Under-17 Men’s National Team was eliminated from the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup on Saturday.
Raphael Wicky’s side were shutout 4-0 by the Netherlands in Goiania, Brazil, ending its World Cup schedule.
After a highly-contested first half, the Dutch grabbed the lead in the 42nd minute as Sontje Hansen broke the deadlock from a composed finish.
Forward Alfonso Ocampo-Chavez and midfielder Bryang Kayo were brought on after halftime in hopes of sparking the U.S. attack.
However it was the Dutch who took advantage of the substitutions with Hansen scoring his second goal of the game in the 51st minute. Hansen hit a one-timer off a late run into the box to double the Netherlands’ advantage.
Mohamed Taabouni extended the Dutch’s lead later in the second-half before Jaylen Braaf capped the final score in the 86th minute.
U.S. goalkeeper Chituru Odunze had the only highlight in the 78th minute, stopping Dutch captain Kenneth Taylor’s penalty kick.
The U.S. finishes the tournament with a 0-1-2 record, scoring only one goal in the three group stage matches.
For a while I had heard from Hispanic players that had played with us men’s national team that the US soccer staff looked down on doing other than a pass on the ball. They did not like taking an extra touch nutmegs. This is futbol and we looked horrible but that is due to coaching. I agree these kids are young but some had to show some flare Reyna being one of them he just showed he only has size and lacks speed and creativity reminded me of those good technical soccer players that don’t know how to play with team mates. Pepi was a total dud. Busio didn’t show that he turned pro he looked worse than an amateur.
Sad to see such a joyless performance. Not one back-heel pass. Not one nutmeg, No silly dribbling attempts. No one played like a 17 year old, with enthusiasm and some crazyness. they played as if they were afraid to displease the coach. Not even a sniff of streetball in their game. They looked like automatons, programmed by some Frankenstein to play one touch passing only, Where is the joy of being an elite 17 year old soccer player? I did not see any on this team. But, I guess I was looking at the best cone-drill performers in the USA, not the best soccer players.
Wicky was SCREAMING instructions the entire time which is an embarrassment for a coach with his “credentials”. How does he get hired?
Reyna, looked annoyed to be there and crying every time the ball did not get to him. Claudio, you need to have a chat with him.
Busio, amazing this guy has been in MLS for two years….offered nothing but giving ball away. What does he actually do well?
Leyva, showed minimal composure and would never know he impressed for Sounders.
Scally, totally overrun and outclassed. Just kept getting beats dB giving ball away…..but with Wicky yelling at his every move no wonder!
Drop Wicky now and bring in someone who lets the kids play.
Technically, yes, this was the worst US squad that has ever player at the 17 u17 tournaments we’ve been apart of. Top of the list.
The idea is that you pick a handful of players; reyna, busio.. maybe Leyva, Odunze, whoever you fancy. You watch them closely because as a whole, u17 results are remarkably poor indicators in MOST scenarios. Obviously it depends – look at our 1999 group. But on that same note, reyna disappointed with his constant remonstrating, performance and overall body language. Busion outside the first 20 minutes against Senegal was also helpless.
This was the worst youth team that I have seen since Luis Gil and co. It likely has ramifications for this age group, but perhaps not as severe as people admit. The sky is not falling. Wicky has been in charge for 7 months. We’ll see what happens with player selection and system development over the next few months.
What an embarrassment. They could not pass, they could not make runs off the ball, they could not support the player with the ball This was not working it out from the back with all of theses long balls. (Of which went to the other team) The number of unforced errors with bad passing. The inability to shield the ball was all just atrocious. Wïcky needs to be interviewed and he needs to explain what he was trying to have the team play. It was simply just that bad and this is just on the offensive side of the game for the USA. But I guess the patsy US Soccer reporters won’t bother since their too scared to call out US Soccer for another example of how they have no plan to make the elite soccer players in this country better.
Hard to argue with the results. I didn’t see the Japan game, but in the other 2 the US was totally outclassed. Not only are the US players less skilled, we seem to have brought a group that wasn’t very athletic. The opponents were both quicker to the ball and faster on their feet. Will there ever be a group of US players who can play out of a high press? Certainly not this U-17 team. One can only hope that there are others in this age group who will mature later and bring more quality, because I didn’t see any player, except maybe for the GK Odunze, who distinguished himself.
I saw the whole Japan game they back passed like it was nothing. When Japan got close they would back pass. The attack was also very flat and Reyna was bought on as a sub.
Also Odunze made some impressive saves too.
Well these are 17 year old kids – not even seniors in high school, so can we tone it down a little. Hypocritically, I will point out that the 3 concacaf teams who are done with the group stage all finished bottom of their group, and only the US varsity won a solitary point.
Mysterious was 100% correct. Total Beerholder style play… Pass around the back, few chances, get our a$$ kicked. 1 goal in 3 games. IT DOESNT WORK, ABANDON NOW. I havent seen this elsewhere but I think Tab Ramos leaving the NAT program now makes sense. Maybe Beerholder is trying to force his terrible system on all the lower teams? Im sure Tab wouldnt buy it so Hello MLS. At least when they pull Beerholders plug, Tab won’t be part of the problem
The USA was terrible, I turned off after 2-0. They were whipped puppies
Why are you all disabling comments on some articles. Are we on punishment Ives for not being happy about the recent poor USMNT performance? Also this tournament was bad. The team could not attack for anything. Reyna was even invisible the whole tournament. I also would have thought we would have had more prospects than this. Also the u17 men play in Beerholder system Wicky uses. They looked scared and had no idea how to build up an attack accept the lone goal against Senegal. Defense was very bad on this team. Scally was on player I noticed had a awful tournament hopefully it gets better. Odunze was impressive but he needs a lot more exp he is 6’8 so he has more growing to do. MLS also needs to allow more youth ages 14-20 experience Europe and let them sign if they want to. I know Odunze got to Leicester via Vancouver Whitecaps selling him to them which was pretty rare to see MLS just openly give youth away to Europe.
One of the worst u17 squads I have seen some of the hyped players chocked badly. You can loose but not like that without leaving everything on the field.