Thursday, July 12, 2007

USA continues to impress at U-20 World Cup

The USA U-20 team was able to steal a victory in overtime against an attacking Uruguay side on Wednesday. Both teams showed great talent along with offensive flair. USA was very composed looking for the equalizer in the later minutes - it reminded me of the senior team’s resolve after halftime in the Gold Cup Final v. Mexico.

Speaking of Mexico, their run at Copa America has been very impressive. The roster for this tournament was missing most of the players that play abroad (Salcedo, Pardo, Osorio, etc.) and, unlike USA, they remained competitive. USA may be Gold Cup Champions, but for that final, Mexico has had a better summer………

With USA, Mexico, Brazil, and Uruguay playing games in both the Copa America and U-20 World Cup, casual fans are a little confused but quickly adjust. From what I’ve seen so far, the fans of these countries have a lot to look forward to.

7 comments:

Kartik said...

Totally agreed. Uruguay provided the stiffest challenge yet of the tournament for us, and it was unfortunate that they had to lose the match but we made the plays late. Truthfully the pressure is much greater in this event than it was for the senior team on American soil (even of 70% of the crowd was against them)versus an opponent they are used to beating in Mexico. The US had never defeated Uruguay at this level and in fact has a history of winning the group and then losing to third place teams in the Round of 16 (this would have been the third time in the last 4 U-20 WC that would have happened if we had lost last night) so while I agree the senior team showed charecter in beating Mexico, the U-20s showed a heck of a lot more last night.

I also 100% agree on Mexico's Copa run. I think Sanchez taught us a thing or two about player selection. As many key players were unavailable for Mexico as for us, but instead of using that as an excuse to call the Eddie Gaven's of the world into the squad, Mexico used this as an opportunity to build some leadership for the second tier guys like Guardado and Castillo. We could have done the same with some of our MLS kids, if we could get the league to cooperate with the USSF's international schedule (more non this in the next few weeks!).

Again a great post USA 2010.

Michael said...

"Both teams showed great talent along with offensive flair"?? Please! What game were you watching?! I'm glad the US won but all 3 goals scored were sloppy, the game had no flow or rhythm, and fouls were being called all over the place.

USA2010 said...

I wouldn't call those goals sloppy. They came as a result of offensive pressure. The own goal would have been tapped in anyway...

Uruguay almost scored right after both USA goals.

I call that pretty exciting.

Michael said...

Those were scrappy goals. All 3 goals came from a loose ball/rebound; not one of them was off a real shot.

USA2010 said...

That was my point - both teams showed determination and enthusiasm.

Michael said...

No, your point was what you wrote, that "both teams showed great talent along with offensive flair". Great talent and offensive flair are terms associated with Brazil and Argentina; "determination and enthusiasm" are not nearly the same as what you said.

Anonymous said...

Whatever.

I hope you're getting an "A" in English but I'm guessing not if you give your teacher that attitude