The U.S. Under-20 men’s national team opened World Cup play in emphatic fashion.
Marko Mitrovic’s squad rolled to an 9-1 opening night group stage victory over New Caledonia, using goals from six different players. Parma midfielder Ben Cremaschi registered a hat trick while Nolan Norris added a brace of his own.
Niko Tsakiris, Frankie Westfield, Taha Habroune, and Cole Campbell also registered goals of their own in the result. Goalkeeper Adam Beaudry’s second-half error led to New Caledonia’s lone goal of the night.
The Americans led 3-0 after the opening 10 minutes thanks to Cremaschi’s first two goals and Tsakiris’ headed finish.
Westfield’s header off of a Brooklyn Raines cross in the 28th minute extended the USMNT U-20’s lead to 4-0 before Norris added his first goal of the tournament and Cremaschi capped off his hat trick.
Norris’ second goal of the night gave the Americans a 7-0 lead while Cremaschi picked up his second assist.
Habroune and Campbell added second-half goals of their own while Antoine Simane pulled a consolation goal back for New Caledonia in the 70th minute between their two tallies.
A total of 16 players earned minutes in the match as the Americans jumped to first place in their group.
The USMNT U-20’s will next face off with France on Thursday. Les Bleus also earned three points in their group stage opener, a 2-1 victory over South Africa.
I was looking at GK’s from 2023. Antonio Carrera is the back up at Tigres, Gaga Slonina is in Chelsea’s U21’s/ backup for first team. Alex Borto is Fulhams U21, and Chris Brady is the starter for Chicago. I didn’t realize that the US may have a very deep and young GK corps very soon.
Current crop: Kochen recalled to Barcelona to be the backup. Beaudry back up at Colorado. Duran Feree back up in San Diego, Eyestone back up at Brentford, Beavers back up at Brondby. Next few years we may see some of these GK’s breaking through as starters.
Finished off the game in the first 7 minutes. I was kind of shocked NC didn’t bunker in until halftime. We’ve seen how Benja has looked playing up in age for the last few years, you kind of forget how athletic he is until he’s playing with and against guys his age. Not much to learn NC has a population of 250,000 people, and we’re pretty much all amateurs. On to France, we got through this one healthy and with a +8, which puts a long way to at least being one of 4 3rd place teams who will advance.
To be honest I think its going to do a world of good for Cremaschi playing at Parma. He does have the ability to be special. I think like many players have he always deferred to Messi at Miami to quickly. Always looking to pass to Messi. I would not be surprised if he starts logging quite a few minutes for Parma that he makes a push for the WC team. Of course that is a deep position, but as always injuries may happen. He looks the most likely from this u20 team to make a push. Cole Campbell should be seeking a loan in January if he isnt getting time for Dortmund. I think an Eredivisie team would be a great loan for him.
Also Tsakaris needs to find a better option than San Jose. Bruce Arena doesn’t have a great track record with integrating youth. Another team in MLS should look to buy him in the off season. His ability needs to flourish not be stuck on the bench. Also hearing some European teams are sniffing around.
Now we will see what this team is really made of on thursday.
Bone head play by Beaudry.
Other than that without their GK making 4 or 5 really good saves that game could have been 14-1. Oh and Campbell was trying to hard to get goals he could have had a hat trick of assists in the first half. Needs to recognize that.
Despite a certain poster here always talking up Campbell, I thought he looked pretty bad until he scored.. Not only did he miss chances, he looked selfish and he seemed more interested in scoring a goal than in helping the team.
I’ll cut him some slack he’s got to be pretty rusty he’s hardly played since March. Injuries and then riding the pine at BvB I don’t know why they haven’t just been playing him for their U23s if Kovac doesn’t rate him.