The U.S. under-20 men’s national team opened its tournament schedule in stellar fashion on Friday night.
Michael Nsien’s squad rolled past Jamaica 9-0 in CONCACAF U-20 group stage play with seven different players getting on the scoresheet. Philadelphia Union forward David Vazquez and Cornelia attacker Pedro Soma each registered braces while five additional players all celebrated goals of their own.
Vazquez scored twice in the opening three minutes of the match, giving the USMNT U-20’s a comfortable 2-0 lead off the bat.
Soma extended the Americans lead to 3-0 in the 16th minute before adding his second tally of the match four minutes later.
San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Cruz Medina made it 5-0 for the Americans before halftime, giving Nsien the opportunity to rotate several of his players for the final 45 minutes.
Marcos Zambrano, Ruben Ramos, Nimfasha Berchimas, and Niko Tsakiris all added second-half goals to pad the USMNT U-20’s lead at 9-0 before the final whistle.
A total of 16 players featured in the rout, with goalkeeper Adam Beaudry rarely being troubled by the Reggae Boyz.
The Americans have won each of the last three editions of the competition and will next face Cuba on Monday.
i was impressed by vazquez’s ability ball at feet and finishing. he seemed more like the 19 group and superior technically to the last U20 gang that couldn’t shoot straight. campbell to me has similar good touch plus speed and finishing.
i liked that the team defense seemed effective for a change at U20 level but we will see about that as the tournament progresses and if they make worlds. i liked norris.
the folks dismissive of the scoreline haven’t seemingly watched their past 2 qualifying campaigns, where they drubbed many teams. CR and cuba tied, which underwhelms that one of them is a threat. i think CR has barely made it to worlds in any recent cycles and cuba made it to U20 worlds like once ever. the trap game is going to be the crossover quarterfinal — which decides if you qualify — that might end up a team like honduras or canada. honduras routinely qualifies and while canada usually doesn’t, it’s a rivalry game where you throw out the form book.
IV: did you see my post on the other thread: Campbell is injured, likely why he didn’t go on the Asian tour with Dortmund. I couldn’t find anything on what or how serious it is.
my point is vazquez the ball like stays glued to his feet and his shots are nice and precise. i see him and campbell as a step up on the bench wing options and potentially a way to move pulisic inside. to me they look like the weah era team and not like the shaky last U20 team that while somewhat talented could not shoot straight and got easily countered. which manifested occasionally even in their easy 4-0 type wins. a few times a game the other team would go flying down the field as though through butter.
but, like i said, give us a tougher game before making that official. i think it was rain slicked field + pressure + our talent + a little bit that jamaica is only ok. i think if that was the cade cowell team they’d have put half those goals in the stands, and looked shakier on defense.
i am interested why campbell isn’t on any of the teams this summer, after playing england U19 well and with his talent and the switch happening. an injury makes sense. but my point was really i see the vazquez kid as similarly slick. the more i watched keyrol, i think he’ll work out eventually but he’s more age groupy. he’s scoring goals crashing boxes that elite adults won’t let him crash unmarked, nor will he be as athletically dominant against pros. but slick is slick and the ability to put a ball in the upper 90 or far corner translates upwards. and campbell specifically is fast.
IV: I’ll withhold judgment on Vazquez because Jamaica was so bad. He isn’t really lighting it up on Union II
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What I read on Dortmund’s website was he was supposed to train with the first team this summer, but still start the season on the U19s. I read into that that he wouldn’t have been released, as then he’d miss training with the first team and the start of the U19 season on Aug 4.
Ok I only saw the highlights but even that was hard to watch. Appeared Jamaica completely capitulated already in the 10th minute. My thought throughout was- wwwwwwhere is Jamaica’s midfield? Every goal- literally none even in the picture.
sorry there was a lockup.
I’m not sure about either of them being better but I do think the matches will be more tightly contested as they both will be trying not to get embarrased. I would have thought that Jamacia would have been much stronger than Cuba and a bit better than Costa Rica before a ball was kicked but that is obviously in question. The Costa Rica match will be interesting for sure as far as the referee is concerned given the events of the last time the two teams were in this competition.
There’s usually a lot of politics involved with Jamaican youth teams. The club presidents have a lot of power in the federation and according to the Jamaican fans manipulate rosters so that their players get called in so they can be showcased and sold. I don’t know how factual that is or if it’s just conspiracies of losing fans (we’d never resort to conspiracy when things don’t go well!) There are only a handful of players from their U17 team that tried to qualify last year where the US has a lot of players from their squad so maybe there’s some truth. At the U17s they were in a group with CR and Cuba, they beat Cuba and tied CR. None of them won their Rnd of 16 match.
the US is extremely strong as an age group set but fizzles that lead out as pro adults. i mean if you are the best U17 or U20 every cycle how are you not also the best adult team every cycle.
a lot of these caribbean teams it’s the opposite. they stink as age groups then recover as adults. it might be some fed interference but a lot of it is they patch their development holes with passport players. you look down their copa america roster and the vast majority of the roster is either guys whose first NT work was adult age, or who are converted england YNT players. limited amount of kids with jamaica YNT caps and maybe 1 guy — blake — who looks like he was long term pipeline.
IV: I think part of it is there isn’t a lot of either good youth coaching or good competition in the youth levels in these smaller countries. They have athleticism but can’t stay organized and connected. Then in lot of cases they go to college or USL in the US and learn how to play as part of a team. The Jamaican fans were saying, however, those weren’t even the best players in their age group. They’re hanging in tied at half with Costa Rica as I write this so maybe just a really bad night against US.
While it was no contest, I liked the way the US played. Good ball movement, good player movement and always on the front foot.
I guess we will see if Costa Rica and Cuba give a bit more of a challenge.
One thing is certain MLS next pro is helping these kids develop better.
Jamaica was awful, probably should have been more goals. This whole tournament comes down to the quarterfinal against a 3rd place team from the other groups. Keep our heads about us and avoid cards we should be in good shape. CR and Cuba should be much better though, but with the compacted schedule our depth should give us an advantage over most teams.
I’m not sure about either of them being better but I do think the matches will be more tightly contested as they both will be trying not to get embarrased. I would have thought that Jamacia would have been much stronger than Cuba and a bit better than Costa Rica before a ball was kicked but that is obviously in question. The Costa Rica match will be interesting for sure as far as the referee is concerned given the events of the last time the two teams were in this competition.
I’m not sure about either of them being better but I do think the matches will be more tightly contested as they both will be trying not to get embarrased. I would have thought that Jamacia would have been much stronger than Cuba and a bit better than Costa Rica before a ball was kicked but that is obviously in question. The Costa Rica match will be interesting for sure as far as the referee is concerned given the events of the last time the two teams were in this competition.