The U.S. Under-20 men’s national team are headed to the FIFA U-20 World Cup Round of 16.
Marko Mitrovic’s squad used a late trio of goals to down France 3-0 in group stage play on Thursday. Zavier Gozo and Brooklyn Raines both scored in the final five minutes of normal time before Marcos Zambrano added an insurance goal in extra time to pad the result.
The USMNT U-20’s six points earned through two matches have guaranteed them a knockout stage berth with one match to spare.
It was all the Americans in the first half with Peyton Miller and Nolan Norris both coming close to opening the scoring.
Inter Miami loanee Ben Cremaschi tested his luck past the hour mark before being denied by French goalkeeper Lisandru Olmeta.
USMNT U-20 goalkeeper Adam Beaudry denied France’s Lucas Michal as the match went on, making his lone save of the night.
Gozo’s powerful header in the 85th minute broke the deadlock and gave the Americans a 1-0 lead. Luke Brennan’s cross from the right wing was finished off superbly by Gozo, who celebrated his first goal of the tournament.
Gozo became provider for the Americans’ second goal of the match, stealing possession upfield before playing Raines into the box. Raines, a Houston Dynamo homegrown attacker, curled a right-footed shot into the far corner before racing off into the corner to celebrate.
Gozo came close to adding his second goal of the night but was denied by the crossbar after pinpoint service from Frankie Westfield. However, Zambrano arrived on the spot to clean up the rebound, slamming the door shut on France’s slim comeback hopes.
The USMNT U-20’s will conclude group stage play on Sunday against South Africa, knowing that some players could be rested with the Round of 16 coming next week.
US wins group E with a draw. Should US lose to South Africa and France defeat NC there would be a 3 way tie on 6 pts.
1. Pts obtained in games with tied times (all three teams would be on 3)
2. Goal difference in games between tied teams (currently)
US +3
SA -1
Fr -2
3. Goals scored in games between tied teams
US 3
Fr 1
SA 1
4. GD in group matches
USA +11
SA +4
Fr -2
So as long as we don’t lose by 3 the tiebreaker should put us through as first.
Gary,
“In the last game he scored from the left running across the middle. ”
That would make him an “inverted winger”, a curse word in some parts of SBI.
Beating a French team at any level is huge. And winning 3-0? I doubt anyone expected that. Two games with 12 goals scored and only one given up due to a GK error, even with playing a debutante of amateur players is nothing to sneeze at. Meanwhile, it is possible that both Brazil and Spain might not get through. Another nice thing is that when we bring on subs, the team’s quality doesn’t seem to drop.
The experience throughout this roster is huge. Gozo, Raines, Bambino, Westfield, and Miller are starters every week. Baker Whiting and Cremaschi both have over 75 MLS appearances and both played in CWC this summer. Habroune has 7 starts for The Crew, Tsakiris has had a tough year with injuries but was a regular starter in MLS last season. Brennan, Norris, and Corcoran have all had spells of playing time in MLS.
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You mentioned Spain and Brazil, both beaten by Morocco. The US went 4-1 and 0-0 against them last month.
Most of our team are MLS players. This team can make a very deep run.
Stopped watching around the 80th minute, had to go somewhere.
Guess that’s the curse, I’ll stop watching and come here for analysis
Obviously France is missing many top players (Doue, Mbaye, Zaire-Emery) in their U20 age group, but this was a pretty impressive performance. France had some moments where they were the better side but the US was in control the last 30 minutes. Honestly, we could have had more and France maybe had two chances all match. We were getting behind their backline fairly often in the second half. Advancement secured, time to finish off South Africa while rotating a little to keep the legs fresh.
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Top performers
Raines
Habroune
Wynder
Gozo
Westfield
I didn’t see at anytime France was the better team. They had 2 shots at goal. I just think Mitrovic set the team up a bit.more conservative.
There have been many times the US has missed out on having some of our best players at a U20 WC.
It happens to all nations.
I thought they were better the first 10-15 minutes of the 2nd half but they weren’t super threatening just were pushing us deeper and deeper and we were having trouble building out or maintaining possession if we hit it long.
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This group has pretty much everybody, although I wish we had Banks and Kochen then I might think we’d have a chance. If France had PSG and Monaco’s top U20s they might beat our full NT, but they didn’t so you play who is on the field.
Watched the game. Thought Mitrovic was a bit to conservative in the first half, but it turned out hiw I thought it would. The US had the better team and players.
My only concern is he has Cole Campbell tied to the sideline He needs a bit more freedom. Get Westfield overlapping a bit more to free Cole up. With that being said Luke Brennan may be the fastest guy on this team. He played really well when he came on, and caused a huge headache with his pace. Good to see Gozo getting in on the action too. Brooklyn Raines is going to be a beast of a 6.
On to South Africa.
It seemed to me that our players were generally as fast or faster at just about every position. We completely shut down their star player from the first game on the wing. Campbell showed some real quickness on the right wing, but failed to take advantage when he beat his marker. If he could clean up his play in the final 3rd he could be a real terror. It’s frustrating to watch him. In the last game he scored from the left running across the middle. Maybe that’s how they should use him.