US U-20 Women Squeak into Quarterfinals of World Cup
US Goalkeeper Bryane Heaberlin, captain Julie Johnston and defender Kassey Kallman battle Germany’s Lena Lotzen who was a handful for the Americans, scoring two goals.
The US Women’s U-20 World Cup squad dropped their final Group D match this morning, 3-0 to Germany, who finish atop the group. Despite the loss, the US moves into knockout competition after qualifying by goal differential.
“There is no greater, more exciting or prestigious duel than us against the USA, who have always set the benchmark at all age levels,” said Germany’s coach Maren Meinert a day before her team’s final group play match against the US. “Even at youth level, people are asking: ‘Who can compete with the USA?’”
Evidently Meinert got her answer on Monday morning in Rifu, Japan as her team dominated not only with the scoreline but in every statistic as well. Germany outshot the US 14 to 9 forcing 6 saves from American goalkeeper Bryane Heaberlin with 9 shots on goal compared to 3 for the US.
Germany’s Lena Lotzen scored two goals, both unassisted in the 35th and 53rd minute. Melanie Leupolz scored for Germany in the 55th minute to seal the victory for Germany who ends up the only team in the tournament to date that has won all 3 matches. Group C finishes their group play today.
In Monday’s other Group D match, China PR defeated Ghana 1-0 to finish the group stage with four points alongside the USA. China could not make up the significant goal differential, and the U.S. advanced to the next round. The U.S. was shut out for the first time in this year’s tournament while Germany has yet to allow a goal through three games and won Group D with nine points.
The USA will face the winner of Group C in a quarterfinal match on Aug. 31 at Komaba Stadium in Saitama. The final matches in Group C will be determined later today, with Korea DPR leading the group with six points behind Canada and Norway with three points each. The quarterfinal match will be broadcast live on ESPNU and ESPN3 with coverage starting at 6:20 a.m. ET.
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The German team was impressive but it also seemed that the US had kind of an off day. It’s good to have an occasional wake up call.
I agree with you Fotbalist. The Germans looked good. You were being kind when you said “the US had kind of an off day”.
They looked subpar in every facet of the game. They weren’t ready to play. That falls on the players shoulders-they’re big girls. But in my book, it falls even heaviver on the coach, Steve Swanson.
Ineffective: They couldn’t get the ball to Hayes. There were points in the match, especially the first half where they seemed to ignore the right side of the field. They got schooled, outclassed.
SUBPAR.
Hopefully it was a wake up call for everyone involved with that squad.