U.S. U-20 MNT Fail to Qualify for World Cup
It’s a team that many have said is the most talented U-20 group the U.S. has ever assembled. A team with many players who are already playing in Europe and MLS as pros. Talented or not, the U.S. U-20 Men’s National Team bombed out of the CONCACAF U-20 Championship on Wednesday evening, losing to host country Guatemala by a score of 2-1.
The quarterfinal loss at Estadio Mateo Flores in Guatemala City means that the U.S. will not be making the trip to the U-20 World Cup this summer and will certainly raise questions again about head coach Thomas Rongen who has a history of under achieving in tournaments.
The host team Guatemala, a country with less than 5% of the population of the U.S., played inspired football and for many spells looked better than the Americans. The U.S. team seemed to struggle getting organized defensively and on the opposite end of the field squandered opportunites that must be taken in big tournaments.
“Obviously we are extremely disappointed by this result,” said U.S. U-20 MNT head coach Thomas Rongen. “If you look at the game, you have to take your hat off to Guatemala. The home team came to play. They had a good game plan. We have to move on, and I firmly believe that within this group we have very capable players who will move on to represent our team at the senior team or Olympic level, but today wasn’t our day. It was a good host team and our team wasn’t able to click on all cylinders.”
Rongen stated, “We have to move on.” The question that Sunil Gulati and US Soccer will need to ask and answer will be, will it be with or without Rongen.
– U.S. U-20 Men’s National Team Game Report — (click read more)
Match: U.S. U-20 MNT vs. Guatemala
Date: April 6, 2011
Competition: CONCACAF Under-20 Championship – Quarterfinal
Venue: Estadio Nacional Mateo Flores – Guatemala City, Guatemala
Kickoff: 8 p.m. local (10 p.m. ET)
Attendance: 13,805
Weather: 65 degrees, clear
Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
USA 0 1 1
GUA 1 1 2
Scoring:
GUA – Gerson Lima (Kendel Herrarte) 33rd minute
USA – Conor Doyle (Amobi Okugo) 66
GUA – Henry Lopez (Jose Castillo) 69
Lineups:
USA: 1-Zac MacMath; 4-Moises Hernandez, 5-Perry Kitchen (capt.), 2-Gale Agbossoumonde (16-Moises Orozco, 82), 3-Zarek Valentin; 8-Sebastian Lletget, 14-Amobi Okugo, 10-Kelyn Rowe; 13-Greg Garza (17-Omar Salgado, 77), 9-Conor Doyle, 7-Joe Gyau
Subs not used: 18-Cody Cropper, 6-Dillon Powers, 8-Sebastian Ibeagha, 12-Sacir Hot, 15-Korey Veeder,
Not available: 20-Eder Arreola, 11-Bobby Wood
Head Coach: Thomas Rongen
GUA: 21-Jose Carlos Garcia; 3-Manuel Moreno, 4-William Ramirez, 5-Elias Enoc (capt.), 6-Jose Del Aguila, 7-Marvin Ceballos (10-Kevin Norales, 73), 8-Jose Castillo, 9-Henry Lopez (18-Abner Bonilla, 79), 11-Kevin Herrarte, 14-Jose Lemus, 20-Gerson Lima (16-Cristian Lima, 46)
Subs not used: 1-Diego Chacon, 2-Jose Andrade, 15-Sixto Betancourt, 17-Marco Tulio Rivas
Not available: 12-Jose Carlos Morales, 19-Jonathan Rodriguez
Head Coach: Hugo Ever Almeida
Stats Summary: USA / GUA
Shots: 10 / 9
Shots on Goal: 5 / 5
Saves: 3 / 4
Corner Kicks: 6 / 6
Offside: 6 / 0
Misconduct Summary:
USA – Greg Garza (caution) 74th minute
USA – Zarek Valentin (caution) 90+2
USA – Omar Salgado (caution) 90+3
Officials:
Referee: Roberto Garcia (MEX)
Assistant Referee 1: Victor Calderon (MEX)
Assistant Referee 2: Juan Rodas (HON)
Fourth Official: Jose Molina (HON)
Comments are closed.
I would encourage people to check out the CONCACAF website. They have a number of matches streamed online for the various North American tournaments. For people like me who do not have all the “premium” soccer channels on cable, it is a great way to catch soccer matches for free!
I caught a little bit of the US match last night. Although the result was disappointing, I am convinced that the future for US men’s soccer is bright!
Indeed, the U-20 US team was solid. I hope the players and staff can keep the focus on continued player development and forget the results during these qualifying matches. Our development system is improving and these players are very high quality; they just need more confidence. Challenging the host country is never easy.
Jon, for reasons I can’t divulge, I will say that I wonder if they really need “more confidence” or need more humility and a coach that will motivate them the right way.
This is truly dissapoint and a huge setback. In short and summary (cause I can go on) we should move on without Rongen being in direct contact with the kids. The guy has great vision and philosophy and should be a TD in some capacity at the USSF or an MLS academy but no more of him for the love of God.
From the USSoccer.com web site: “Long throws and long balls were cleared and all 11 Guatemala players were deployed to defend dangerous set pieces in their penalty area. ”
Clearly kick and run is still alive in the house that Rongen built. Time for Wilmer Cabrera to give it a shot with that age group and bring in someone else to shepherd the U17s. If Gulati is just interested in protecting his own backside, Rongen will get booted upstairs.