The U.S. Under-20 men’s national team squared off with New Zealand for the first time since the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup and in similar fashion the Americans rolled to a shutout victory.
Owen Wolff, Cade Cowell, Justin Che, and Rokas Pukstas all scored for Mikey Varas’ squad in a 4-0 win over New Zealand on Tuesday, advancing to the quarterfinals for the fourth-straight edition of the competition. The Americans will next meet either Uruguay or Gambia in the quarterfinals which will take place on June 4.
After both teams traded early shots on goal, Wolff propelled the USMNT U-20’s in front after 14 minutes. Diego Luna set up Wolff before the Austin FC attacker delivered a long-range shot which nestled into the bottom-left corner.
The Americans doubled their lead in the 61st minute as Luna played distributor for the second-straight goal. Luna connected with Cade Cowell before Cowell’s low drive found the back of the net for his third goal of the competition.
Justin Che added his first goal of the tournament in the 75th minute after slotting home a rebound in the box. Luna’s original effort was blocked the New Zealand backline, but Che made no mistake to make it 3-0 USMNT U-20’s.
Rokas Pukstas capped the final score at 4-0 with his first goal of the tournament, heading home Brandan Craig’s cross down the middle of the New Zealand net.
The Americans outshot New Zealand 9-to-1 in terms of shots on goal and 22-to-3 overall.
Gabriel Slonina made one save to register his fourth clean sheet of the competition.
0-0 still between Uruguay and Gambia. They are battering each other. Each team has a red card.
Both teams will be physically drained for the quarters and missing a player.
Uruguay it is. Going to be difficult game. Uruguay will make it physical. Hopefully this team will be up for the fight.
Three teams from Group D advance rather easily to the quarterfinals. Is it the group of death if they make 3/8 of the quarterfinalists. Cause everybody but Dominican Republic livin their best life.
I saw England the defending champs had lost. Whoa!! I saw Nigeria v Italy. And Brazil v DR, Italy and then Tunisia. The Italians were out done by Nigeria’s athletes. Brazil turned it up a notch from the group stages. I didn’t check the lineup Brazil v Italy, I think the Azzurri played v a rotated Brazil squad. It could’ve had an influence as to why Brazil lost. I don’t have the streaming service so I watch what matches FS1 or 2 programs, outside of the US squad of course. I haven’t watched every squad; I have looked at every country’s roster in comparison to ours. From what information I got from looking at the players club and international backgrounds, we are like top 5 in players actually playing 1st team club minutes. We also have some players with Senior caps, which puts the US in Top 3, w/ players with senior caps for their countries. With our athletes, we can out run & maneuver Italy. The super Eagles can be beat by this squad’s death of thousand cuts passing. Use Nigerian momentum against them. Brazil’s back line is their weakest position, even though none of their players suck. It’s Brazil!, and Brazil is Brazil. They’re always good at this age group. Uruguay & Gambia; tough match up to pick. There’s always a country in Africa no one expects to go far in the U20s. Uruguay has technical players to keep possession but do they have pace to keep up with a Gambia counter. I don’t have a fav but USA has a good chance vs both countries. This US squad has good chance of getting passed the quarters.
If Uruguay advances then we will have to face the swell of Uruguay fans. If Gambia advances we will have to face their Athletes. We are pretty athletic and match up well against both countries. But Uruguay being urged on by a massive crowd could make things very difficult.
Please!! Please let’s this man (Varas) fill-in as interim coach after B.J.
False 9, counter pressing, 20-30 % advantage in possession, long diagonal switches, verticality with crosses into the box, passing CBs, attacking FBs, a GK who plays out of the back. Hmmm?
I have been really impressed with Luna. Won’t be surprised to see him on some European club radars. I think he could do well in Serie A. Especially in a two fwd formation with him being the second fWD/CAM.
I think that might be to big a leap. We saw that with Busio and Tessman that really were in over their heads in Serie A last season. I think stop in Netherlands, Belgium or Portugal might be a more prudent first step. A couple inches on some shots in this tournament would have him attracting a ton of suitors as of now I think he still has a lot to prove in the coming rounds.
punch down fixture list. tournament starts next round. NZ didn’t impress me at all and i thought that was our second string offense that dumped 4 on them. their keeper stunk. stuff like how you’re defining the backs, well, they haven’t had to defend much more than the odd jailbreak. i kind of want to know if they can mark someone or handle a tough game before i annoint them or the system. that starts next one.
you’re also not acknowledging some of your recipe there — is that a marsch hint?? — is contradictory or redundant. when my dynamo were playing vertical diagonals c. 2017 that’s to send the wings (elis and quioto back then) — like we were cowell. elis didn’t need RB help. beasley hung back and let quioto do his thing. why do i then need to risk the wingbacks up? personally i think that just draws more defense and double teams to our wing players to constantly be making the wide runs. i want the meal tickets playing in space not drawing flies.
also if i am going vertical i want the wing if they can help it getting in on goal themselves, and if they have to pass more a ground hugging square ball behind the defense than a lazy lofted cross.
i also see a contradiction between wanting to high press and wanting to hit diagonal kickball outlets. the way teams used to stop elis is drop back deep where he couldn’t just beat them in a foot race, make us play half court soccer. high press is closer to half court because the other team never clears their end if it works right.
The U20s have mixed it up but they like to look for that outlet over the top to Cowell, that’s been option 1 (after Ecuador when he was suspended). If that’s not on they have to use the FBs because neither Sullivan or Cowell are especially good in tight spaces or dribbling through. That’s been tempered with Varas usually playing 3 CBs to cover where Marsch and Berhalter used their MFs and left their 2 CBs on an island. Once they’ve gotten up on teams the last three matches those teams had to play more they’ve been able to hit Luna and let him lead the break. This team hasn’t been tested only being down to Canada in qualifying last year so it remains to be seen how they respond to adversity. Pukstas should be an upgrade to Wolf and Paredes provides a more attacking option on the right. A lineup of
Cowell-Luna-Pukstas
Wiley-VargesMcGlynn-Paredes
with the three CBs, leaves you still with Sullivan, Tsakiris, Gomez, Yapi, and Wolf off the bench.
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I haven’t seen either Gambia or Uruguay so I can’t say what they’re like. I watched Nigeria vs Brazil and thought they both looked good but we’ll see how they and Italy do in the knockouts. Maybe the group just had parity not quality. Different level obviously but this team threads the needle between Berhalter and Marsch. They attack quickly when it’s on like a Jesse coached team but don’t just mindlessly play it forward like those teams. They can put in 20 pass sequences when needed but use the whole field and are always looking for openings whereas Berhalter’s NT at times seemed uncertain if they were supposed to score. That’s a long way to see they play more than one way and can adjust their attack on the fly, something both Berhalter and Marsch struggled with in their most recent positions. A big difference has been Craig, the US lost the ability of the passing CB when it gave up on Brooks. Again the 3 CBs has allowed him some cover both defensively and given him time. Ream is a decent passer but not that 40 yd on a line behind the defense. Gambia/Uruguay will not have a lot of time to prepare for the US and I expect them to play more to their strengths instead of trying to game plan for the US. A lost in the quarters won’t signify a failure but it would be a disappointment. I would expect a good amount of Uruguayans to show up but would think the Argentines would be cheering for the US against their rivals.
This team is a joy to watch. I think you could take this team and it would be competitive in MLS. Varas has done an excellent job in training the team as their ball movement and sharp passing are outstanding. You think that Cowell could score more, but then that’s because he is getting in dangerous positions so often. He terrorizes back lines of opponents. A little better finishing and he could have twice as many goals. Luna is exceptional on the ball and is extremely clever. The way that Varas has rotated players and the long layoff means that everybody should be available for Sunday’s match.
Great post. Agree 100%. Cowell should have at least 5 goals. I like the work the coach has done as well. Lets see if its a mirage or not when they meet better teams.
The first men’s squad with 4 wins at the WC at any level. To be fair, a fairly average draw, but Ecuador and Slovakia were the kind of big physical teams we’ve struggled with in the past at the youth level. The US will be on two extra days rest compared to their opponent who don’t play until Thursday. MLS teams should really look at Mikey Varas. His teams have been well organized and his adjustments are usually effective.
Would like to see him stay for one more cycle. Next cycle has a ton of talent too.
I wonder if he’ll move up to the Olympic team next summer.
All depends on what the next head coach wants but yeah I could see that. I could also see him become a USMNT assistant as well.
Another dominant win. I do worry about that Edelman Mcglynn partnership going forward in a 3-4-3. A few times New Zealand exposed their lack of athleticism.
nice, very nice young men
#proud