Quinn Sullivan is firing on all cylinders for the U.S. Under-20 men’s national team and its coming at a perfect time for Mikey Varas’ squad.
Sullivan scored a brace on Saturday as the USMNT U-20’s breezed past Nicaragua 5-0 in Round of 16 play, setting up a quarterfinal showdown against Costa Rica on Tuesday. Diego Luna and Jalen Neal also found the back of the net for the Americans, which earned a second-straight win and third overall in the Concacaf U-20 Championship.
The USMNT U-20’s owned possession in the first half but were kept at bay for majority of the opening 45 minutes. Nicaragua defender Cristhian Herrera denied Cade Cowell an opening goal in the 35th minute, diving low to clear the forward’s shot off of the line.
Diego Luna got the nod in the starting lineup and dazzled by setting up the opening goal of the match on the verge of halftime. Luna raced his way down the left wing before unleashing a cross that Quinn Sullivan headed home for his fourth goal of the tournament.
The USMNT U-20’s upped their pressure after halftime and were rewarded with a penalty kick opportunity in the 56th minute after Sullivan drew a foul in the box. Nicaragua’s Kurt Thomas hauled down Sullivan allowing Luna the chance to slot home his first goal of the tournament for a 2-0 Americans lead.
Sullivan continued his hot run of form in the 64th minute, slamming home a low cross from Cowell on the left wing to extend the USMNT U-20’s lead to 3-0.
Caden Clark entered the match as a second-half substitute and wasted little time making an impact. His cross in the box deflected off of Nicaragua defender Dylan Pineda and soared into the back of the net for a 4-0 scoreline.
Jalen Neal added a fifth and final goal for the USMNT U-20’s, as the defender slammed home a rebound in the final minutes of the match. Neal became the 16th different goalscorer for the USMNT U-20’s in this tournament.
The USMNT U-20’s will next face Costa Rica in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
With Yedlin likely leaving the NT after 2022, it feels like it will be the perfect time to bring in Diego Luna so we have at least one player with neck tattoos.
Sullivan seems to be the one to watch. His diving header goal was very well placed.
Seems to be in the right place all the time.
Now the tournament can actually begin. Varas has rotated to keep players fresh but have the first 11-15 gelled enough to put in the performance necessary.
Starting 11 for Wed.
—————Sullivan—————
Aaronson————Clark——
——-Luna————Alvarado-
—————-Pukstas—————
Allan—Craig——Neal—Cuevas
—————Brady——————-
—————————————
Wish we had Paredes 1g 2a for Wolfsburg and Sealy 1a for PSV in their clubs first friendlies. Paredes against 5th Div German side and Sealy against a local amateur all-star team so not super telling or maybe much different from Nicaragua. (Ledezma 1g and 1a as well, both he Sealy played with a mostly 2nd unit).
Sorry PSV played against 5th Div German side Wolfsburg played amateur all-star team.
Parroting again?? Holy Kreis, JR!! That was Pete’s starting XI from his reaction show last night. I know, because I watched and disagreed with 90 percent of this particular episode. I thought, this is CONCACAF, the best pure athlete is left off the starting XI? Everyone else is “technical”, except Cade. You can tell vs Nicaragua & group matches. You’ve been commenting a long time on SBI. Way before Klieban & Pete were on u tube. I don’t see any reason for people on SBI to parrot anyone. If anyone needs to be repeated, it’s Ives & staff. They write the articles, get out the way, and let the conversation happen. These channels I watch project A LOT. Contradict A LOT. Which confuses the conversation. Why have you seen that makes Quinn a CF?
Hah I was watching but doing other things perhaps my subconscious was more in tune than I thought. I went for run right after so I don’t remember them doing a lineup, but I caught their player ratings. I usually disagree with Pete most of the time, so it’s a little surprising if I copied it. Per Cade: he has started 3 out of 4 matches so far subbed out twice but time to rotate so he’s fresh, second he’s not been as good as Luna, Pax, Clark or Sullivan, third his speed against CR coming on the last 25-30 would be impactful. Cowell is Jordan Morris he’s going to go hard and when given enough opportunities will make a play. Against CR we will likely not have as many opportunities if Cade hits on his first opportunity it will be great if he hits his first six into the stands we’ll be in trouble because we might not get a 6th. I’d be ok with Cade as a CF, but please not Wolff. Sullivan has a knack of finding the right space in the box but isn’t great at beating guys with the ball or crossing for others. I don’t know that Sullivan has looked that good either but he’s taken his chances better than Cowell. FWIW I don’t think Sullivan will start as the CF. As for parroting, I routinely listen to Yank Report, Scuffed, It’s Called Soccer, Tactical/Yanks, TSS (listen while I exercise) and I used to listen to Ives when his pods were free. With the U20s, only Tactical Yanks and Scuffed have been doing regular coverage so maybe they’ve given some undue influence.