The U.S. Under-20 men’s national team’s World Cup run came to an emotional ending on Sunday night in Chile.
Morocco eliminated the United States by a 3-1 scoreline in quarterfinal action on Sunday. Cole Campbell scored the Americans only goal of the match but a Josh Wynder own goal and a Gessime Yassine insurance tally condemned the USMNT U-20’s to second best in the match.
It marked the fifth-straight World Cup quarterfinal elimination loss for the USMNT U-20’s.
Morocco struck first in the 31st minute as Fouad Zahouani finished off Othmane Maamma’s pass for a 1-0 lead. VAR reviewed the goal and deemed it valid as Mohammed Ouahb’i’s squad grabbed a first-half advantage.
However, the lead would only last 14 minutes as Campbell equalized for the Americans in first-half stoppage time. Ali Maamar brought down Nolan Norris in the box, allowing Borussia Dortmund winger Campbell to step up and score from the penalty spot.
With both teams fighting back and forth for a go-ahead goal, it would be Morocco who received a fortunate bounce. A long throw-in from the sidelines deflected into the back of the net off of Wynder, making it 2-1 Morocco.
Yassine would add the dagger blow for Morocco in the 87th minute, ending the Americans’ quest of reaching the final four. A mix-up between Taha Habroune and Adam Beaudry allowed Morocco to pounce on a loose ball and punish them for the error.
Morocco will now advance to face either France or Norway in the semifinals while the U.S. players head back to their respective clubs.
2tone asked the other day what people thought of the video review. First, as I said below I think traditional VAR convinces him the shirt tug with the left hand is a foul. On the first goal.
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On the US penalty traditional VAR checks it and confirms in seconds. By the time the ball is spotted and the GK has been advised it would have been confirmed. It takes a good 5 minutes for the ref to come over and look at it and talk to the 4th official. Waste of time on an obvious call.
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Its main advantage seems to be its cheaper because you don’t need to pay another set of refs in the booth or remote location.
a lot of the US’ problem are scheme and attacking aggression. there are 3 periods in that game where we were generating chances. first 5-10′ through campbell. roughly 5′ before and after halftime where we accumulated corners and a PK goal. roughly 80′ in for a brief burst. the common denominator is we are actively trying to score and playing the ball behind the backs. around the half it was repeated corners. the ball is at the feet of frontline or central mid players. and they aren’t pressing you turned towards their own net down by their goal line.
when this goes badly is the tentative, i am scared, turn around and play backwards crap. we dominate possession stats. we create few real chances. and meanwhile we ship some silly easy goals.
that and the defense all levels is just a bit soft zone.
the other limiting factors on how far we progress we have less control over. we graduate some kids to the senior team who could have been U20s. i actually want that to happen, as the point to the age group exercise is making useful world cup players. and the other chunk is player access, which we can’t control, and similarly may be a product of player success.
but to me a lot of this comes down to one choice, when the wing or AM gets the ball, do they get overlaps and attacking runs? do they play the ball forward and behind the opposing backs? or do we put our foot on the ball and turn back. all too often, and particularly as the opponent quality improves, we turn around. and with our leaky defense we’re doomed right there.
why pull tsakiris with 15′ left? campbell and tsakiris were the 2 attackers doing anything positive, tsakiris was one of the better creators, and tsakiris didn’t look particularly tired. with the benefit of hindsight, knowing the 3rd goal happens, it’s a -1 move.
on goal 1 wynder leaves his man standing in the middle of the goal to go get caught in no man’s land on the gymnastic flick back in over his head.
on goal 2 wynder fails to stay goalside on the throwin play and in desperation kicks it in his own net.
i think the player on keystone cops is 14 habroune not 4 wynder, but that’s still 2 goals on wynder.
also, on goal 3, someone explain to me what “replace cole with him” brennan 11 is doing as the miscommunication blows up right in front of him. we have numbers back, he stands around as the 2 guys freeze in front of him, doesn’t mark the guy in the middle, and doesn’t go from walk to even jogging until late in the play. and he’s a sub.
i mean, count bodies on goal 3. that’s basically 2 on 4. the attacker manages to get on a hopeful longball where we had a keeper and back closer than him, and then with 4 guys who aren’t marking him, no one is marking the scorer standing in the box alone.
only guy with urgency comes slide tackling in after the shot is taken.
IV: it’s Corcoran’s mark, not Wynder’s. Corcoran tracks Zabiri but then ball watches maybe gets shoved (maybe an USL#8 marking a Portuguese 1st Division striker) and Zabiri slips behind him. He might be a step slow to help if you want to get picky but it’s Corcoran’s man not Wynder’s.
you are correct. wynder was at fault the other 2 goals. “my bad..”
About as far as I figured this team would go. Possession is great, but if your possession is mostly sideways and backpasses, so what? They were too slow and deliberate; this team lacked a cutting edge, players with enough skill and vision to take on and break down defenses with quick, short, accurate passes. Crosses and corners – how many did we have? – only played into Morocco’s strength. I thought Campbell might be that guy, but he is so one-dimensional, that he is easily neutralized. As someone said earlier, Morocco played a Master Class in defensive football, absorbing pressure, and hitting on the counter attack.
Bill – can’t you say
Possession is great, but if your possession is mostly sideways and backpasses, so what? They were too slow and deliberate; this team lacked a cutting edge, players with enough skill and vision to take on and break down defenses with quick, short, accurate passes.
Isn’t this the same problem we have with the senior team?
exactly! finally someone sees it. watching first half and thus far what i see is a team with the switch turned back to “tentative.” precisely where, before, we were pushing the ball behind the backs, we seem scared we’d get an offsides call or something, and turn it back around.
also, because we are so into “buildup,” everyone is past the half line and the green space is right there for the counter.
It seems to be sometimes!
Finally get to watch the replay, the only goal that came off the counter attack was the last one when we were pushing everyone forward to try to tie. That first goal comes from a goal kick. Westfield challenges for a header he has no chance to win (if he stays home he probably steals and starts a counter of our own) then Raines gets beat to the second ball because both Westfield and Raines are chasing the play Kohler has to shift wide. Neither Norris or Beaudry deal with the cross so Wydner has to come to deal with the rebound. Then Corcoran, Raines, and Kohler are ball watching.
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And it’s a pretty obvious shirt tug with the left hand and then the right arm is yanking Raines as well around the neck. That’s what’s crap about this Video review process, you’re asking the ref to admit he was wrong and it’s all up to him. No VAR going no look at this it’s clear and obvious 10 yanks the jersey to gain an advantage and yanks him again with his other arm, we think you missed it.
The first 2 Morocco goals were the result of sloppy unfinished play by the US and good effort by Morocco. It wasn’t a system failure or poor quality by US.
The last goal was cause because the US was pushing for a tying goal at the end and it was a weird in-between the keeper and last defender. Keeper was caught in no-mans-land and he made a bad 20 year old decision in a pressure situation.
IV: come on Wydner has to come on that first goal. Beaudry has run himself into the post and Norris is off the field. When he has to decide it’s either close it down or an open net. We can argue he could have closed better but he has to do something. The ball scores, he can mark his man who doesn’t have it or close down the guy with the ball and a potentially open net. Still the play is lost by Westfield and Raines (even though I think it’s a foul).
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Last one you’ve got a #10 Habroune, your W in Brennan and Raines emergency goal line protecting. I didn’t get to the 2nd half watch yet, I’m assuming we’ve pushed Wynder and Kohler up for crosses or a free kick. That’s just the consequences of a knockout game, no point in keeping it close for GD.
dude, under duress the keeper counts as a defender. you don’t send the whole house of 2 backs and a keeper at the near post and leave the back post wide open.
if the wide guy brings it down, tries to cut it inside, then you play the passing lane and back up the keeper.
that and my pet theory is put yourself in position to cut something off and make a play. you never get caught in no-man’s land on an aerial play. you find someone to body up on. dude is literally facing the wrong way, no angle on goal.
you’re literally trying to tell me to play it wrong in the way that shipped a goal standing alone on the 6. we know it ended badly but do it anyway.
but then the US is bad at basic stuff like making sure the guy running to the spot or at the 6 right in front of the net is covered. but what we normally do is stand in a line marking no one while a markable player stands in front of the precision rockettes line we set up in case they hit an aimless cross.
The USA at all level lets in really easy goals. Fundamental rule of soccer. It is easier to gift goals than to earn them. We gifted 2. The big boys gifted Ecuador one the other night as well. This really has to stop.
I think the first 2 goals were just bad luck. The last one was a huge mistake by the GK. There was no good reason for him to come out of his area.
no, sorry, bs. goal 1 you do not leave a man standing alone in the middle of the 6. are you kidding me? it’s a very very nice bit of skill to knock it back in, but c’mon. goal 2 wynder loses his man on a long throw. goal 3 is keystone cops where the keeper should stay home, or one of them should call the ball. none of that is “bad luck.” do your job.
It helps if you have players who are not familiar with each other as many national teams do.
It also helps if you have inexperienced not totally confident goal keepers.
With all seriousness Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley should be the next U20 coaches. Landon has been a head coach for San Diego USL team and Bradley can still keep his RedBull academy gig and be Landons assistant.
That could be neat, but I’m not sure that Landon is a coach. Great players often have a difficult time trying to teach another player how to be great. I wonder if Landon might be one of those guys.
Wynder is an Enigma did known goal in two games this tournament and one at the 2023 u20 wc. I am nervous about his future and debuting for senior Usmnt in next 4 to5 years.
Those were two unfortunate own goals to be honest. He has a bright future.
Beaudry on the other hand was not a commanding GK and quite frankly his positioning was very suspect on all goals scored on him during this tournament.
bright future? i remember him getting burned for goals last time, and it looked to me like he was on the hook for a couple more this game (throw in plus keystone cops), plus one earlier in the tournament.
at that point i don’t care what you think of his passing.
re beaudry, goal 3 is a basic communication failure that shouldn’t happen at U20, and my general impression was he has zero vertical.
i am somewhat concerned we’re picking keepers a lot for foot skills and not are they good at keeping, which would mirror backs chosen for passing. we are then somehow not dominant at skill soccer.
We picked Kochen, not really the staffs fault to Barca keepers got injured a week before the tournament began.
JR: i kind of doubt that no-vert keeper was even the second best U20 anywhere in the pro ranks or college.
i also tend to hold coaches responsible for the whole roster they bring because often enough “wondo” sees the field, or jozy pulls a hammy and then you’re carrying AJ hurt. to me a lot of sports are talent and scouting it correctly. this is why i am constantly like, “can we do better than this?” “is there someone else we can try?” particularly when the existing thing is a mess.
last, my general beef of are we favoring foot skills over shot stopping. while goal 1 is more a marking problem, goal 2 he should be right there to block that, and goal 3 he’s out in no-man’s land unnecessarily — that didn’t look like an imminent chance on goal the backs couldn’t mop up — then neither of them call the ball or just take care of it.
JR- put it differently, this is precisely one of the scenarios where “who was the U20 starter” seems to have little or inconsistent say in who later on is the MNT starting keeper.
not unlike a certain age group game against el salvador for hamid and seanjohn.
to me it’s telling the top 3 US GK on the current call sheet were all college kids, and only schulte was brought into HS type age group YNT. brady, the afterthought 4th stringer who i don’t even think plays well enough to earn this, is the one in the pipeline since U15, U20 quali starter, who went straight pro.
No striker the last two cycles (also no real striker at Olympics). Last time at least we had Pepi who wasn’t released, but this time there was nobody. Both Figueroa and Zambrano have failed to develop in the last few years. Justin Ellis is ranked as the best 18 yr old but he plays as a 10 for Orlando B. Alexander Staff is the best 17 yr old but he’ll be on Germany’s U17 team at the WC. Julian Hall will probably split time with Chase Adams at U17 WC, but is more likely a winger as he ages. Jakupovic is the best rated of the 16 yr olds and has 8g in 16app in Next Pro this year. USSF has been having youth identity camps to widen their scope this fall, but it will be awhile before that pays off.
There is 18 year old striker at Leipzig who is on the current US u19 team I believe. Din Klapija. See how he develops.
RBL has been playing him as a winger. In 32 Junior A Bundesliga appearances 6g 1a that’s over 3 years. None of those came against academy teams from the Bundesliga. He’s got goals against Norway, Japan, and Australia at U18 and U19 levels but he’s not screaming I’m going to push for a spot in the next 5 yrs. He is eligible for next U20. Not in camp this week with ‘07s but perhaps that’s to let him be with the RBL first team. Croatia still in the mix for him too. Jykese Fields from Hoffenheim and the previously mentioned Ellis are the others who have been with that U18 group. None of the three look much better than Zambrano. With two of them in the Bundesliga academy system they’re unlikely to get pro minutes before the next WC either and if they do they will not be released.
first, sargent aside, we’ve identified a few functioning strikers, wright went through our pipeline, balogun went through the french, and pepi was a US U17 we graduated to senior so he skipped U20.
second, i think we need new strikers in about 5 years.
third, the pattern seems to be to end up with false 9s which IMO is punchdown stuff unless you have them combining into the box against even the best teams.
fourth, i don;’t buy for a second there are no forwards anywhere in pros or college who can play back to goal.
Feels a little unlucky, we did boss possession, had so many corners. Morocco didn’t have many shots at all, I think they scored on each one. I can’t recall our keeper making a save…feel like those plays could have been cleaned up by a commanding keeper. On the other hand, it was a masterclass by Morocco in counterattacking soccer. Despite our 70% possession, we only had a couple good chances, and when they broke out it was direct, with purpose, and they buried their chances. Still can’t understand why the USMNT doesn’t at least consider this kind of tactic, if only occasionally. Being obsessed with possession has won us what exactly? The peak USMNT is still Bob Bradleys team (’09?) that beat Spain and had Brazil on the ropes in the confed final. And we played how? Defend and counter.
I would gladly watch defend and counter if it means we win.
I would gladly watch defend and counter if it means we win.
I would gladly watch defend and counter if it means we win.
Had Brazil on the ropes? After they scored one minute after the US was on the ropes the whole second half. Everybody knew the US was done is was just if time would run out before we hit the canvas. As for defend and counter. We’re pretty crappy at the defend part. Correct me if I’m wrong don’t you need strong shot stopping keepers and positionally disciplined defenders to do that? This U20 didn’t have that and the NT doesn’t either. Against Mexico in Gold Cup they forced us to sit deep and try to counter and our best defender Tyler Adams lost discipline and raced to cover a guy without the ball leaving his man wide open near the top of the box. Pass to that guy passes Jimenez who fires it in. Then we give up a set piece because we fouled a player that was not in a dangerous position and then had one guy lose discipline and drop play the goal scorer onside because everyone else held.
Johnnyrazor, in a very real way, you’re emblematic of what is holding soccer back in our country. I think this is just regarding our national teams. Locally, soccer can take different shapes, but on a national level, there is an organic, innate style, you’re working against that buddy, and you are way far from the only one. Reading your many many long posts, helps me see this clearly, thank you, please don’t be offended, just know it’s true.
We were up 2-0 at half against Brazil, yes they turned up the intensity 2nd half and we couldn’t match and lost composure, but that is independent of strategy. Agree with you the u20s and our current senior team are not built for counter, and probably not the time to change so close to next summer and with our senior team starting to gel. My argument would be we have several defensive CMs emerging to choose from and guys like Balogun, Pulisic, Weah to get in behind on the break, McKennie to crash late. As you say, the back line is questionable, but it’s hard to know since it hasn’t been tried.
Johnny Razor. . . the run to the final in the 2009 Confed Cup was a great moment for the USMNT. How can you degrade that?
We beat a great generational talent Spain team in the semi final who had just won the Euro’s and then went on to win the World Cup, adn then another Euro. They hadn’t lost a game in years. And we were up 2-0 on a Brazil team. . in a (fairly) real competition. . . and a Brazil team that many felt was Spain’s only real competition.
The US had just found a partnership of Davies and Altidore up top that made us dangerous with Clint lurking just below. I will still say that had Davies not been horrendously injured just before the World Cup started, the US would have been tremendously dangerous in South Africa.
Dikranovich, I want to change tell me more.
I didn’t mean to degrade the performance. The victory over Spain, I consider a top 3 result all-time, but the Brazil game was all that was wrong with the “Bunker Bob” strategy. Howard being peppered with shot after shot and Brazil having most of the ball. It wasn’t sustainable. Should have been 4-2 as Brazil had a goal denied that looked clearly over. Playing defend and counter can help upset a superior team but it’s hard to win a tournament that way because it is not sustainable. The US played 4 games in that tournament against the big boys we went 1-3 beating Spain, being blown out by Brazil, then two 3-0 2nd half collapses vs Italy and Brazil again.
your memory is failing you. in the final we are up 2-0 on brazil 26′ in. it took them 46′ to get a first goal back. and the 2 killers were in the last 20′.
you also don’t get that while what bradley did neutralized the opposing offense with defense, and turned it into “can we get any goals,” which we could manage, the current theory seems to rely on us simultaneously playing (a) stalemate possession soccer that limits the possible offense but yet (b) not airtight defense, because we toss out there too many backs who can’t mark.
the 1-1 tie is a perfect example of what it produces. we ship an easy goal. we work very hard to get just 1 back. this is not a success recipe. success is either more chances (which the wingback choices fit) or it’s fewer GA (which some of the mid choices fit). but we don’t really excel either end. mediocre offense. mediocre defense. last world cup we can’t hold the wales shutout — when every other team beat wales in the group — and we have to give up a kidney or gonad to get a goal on iran — on whom england dropped 6.
you keep sputtering about modern play being more hybrid but what i see is a tentative offense and a leaky defense that sometimes literally kicks you the winner just trying to get off its own end.
this is neither fish nor fowl and it doesn’t bode well that as the games get harder we get more tentative, and yet not leakproof in the back.
IV: not my memory just my typing skills. Gave up the goal a minute into the 2nd half. We were under pressure throughout and once the dam broke so to speak it was a matter of time. In 2009 that was the strategy we had, we didn’t have the midfield to posses against Brazil. In 2025 we can possess it but we are not able to create and/or finish chances against teams in low blocks. Ecuador created one chance and finished it, we created several chances and only finished one.
IV: you’ve been blabbering on for years about how we need to pick CBs who mark, yet you never name one besides Richards. Please elaborate on these hidden gems. While you’re at it please list your marking FBs.
Can we have Tsakiris just take our corner kicks?
call him in. same theory as berhalter. we need someone around to take set pieces. the US for too long lately has been a little too much about “next man up” all star teams on absolute merit. sometimes you need some guys on the bench just for situations. say, a kick taker or winger, and then a target striker.
i think it’s the obsession with scheme. like the idea seems to be we will play the same way all night, no adjustments, and the answer for scheme not working, is more scheme.
when i was a kid 1/3 of the league would just park back and play us for a tie. you’d have to come up with some other way to score than the usual.
if you notice, we no longer upset anyone, the game usually plays out to about what you’d expect. that, to me, says the coaching isn’t helping. it’s just talent vs. talent and you get what you get. you should be able to upset some teams on either a scheme that actually works, or on adjustments, or you scout some weakness and exploit it.
That was a hard watch. Low intensity. A lot of standing around. Afraid to play forward because there seemed so afraid of the counter. Cole Campbell was terrible. There was a run of three possessions in row where he misplayed passes right to Morocco. And that was the only three passes he attempted in the game….and then tantrumed when he was subbed.
Yeah I’m not seeing it with Campbell. Maybe if he works on his right foot he will be better in the future. He literally dribbles right into pressure every time. Hard to see him being even an option for the USMNT anytime in the next few years. Cade Cowell has more attacking ability and he hasn’t progressed enough in the past two years.
Holy crap guys – this is a U20 world cup – late teens. Hard to watch? It should be. These are recent high school graduates. 18-20 years old.
This was a great experience and a continued good sign for USMNT.
All 3 goals given up were sloppy on our part, and merely effort play by Morocco. A lack of maturity from 18-20 year old kids on defense.
At the U20 stage, we should be asking for quality of play not finished product.
Not true Ukraine won in 2019 and it has translated into a World Cup favorite with everyone from that squad now a lock NT starter… err I mean with the war that’s unrealistic. 2017 Venezuela made the final and they’re, missing another WC. 2015 Serbia won and they’ve … never made it out of their WC group or Euro group. So maybe it doesn’t mean much of anything.
Well at least we are a perennial QF team. Knockout games arent about how pretty you play. Its about being locked in and tough. Onto the next cycle.
This team played right into how Morocco has been all tournament long. Stout defensively hit you on some counters and wait for you to make a defensive mistake.