Best and Worst of 2007: US Youth Teams

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Best Performance: The US’ 2-1 victory over the Pato led Brazil squad at the U-20 World Cup in Canada

Biggest Revelation: Sal Zizzo. The UCLA product playing out wide in the US midfield for the U-20s got himself a contract in the Bundesliga with his outstanding World Cup.

Worst Performance: John Hackworth’s U-17 team imploding at the U-17 World Cup

Biggest Dissapointment: Johann Smith and Quavas Kirk injuring themselves right before the U-20 World Cup. This pair could have been the difference in pushing the US to the semifinals and perhaps beyond in Canada.

Best Coaching Job: Wilmer Cabrera. It;’s early in his tenure but the U-17s looked more confident and composed in the Nike Academy matches versus Brazil, Russia and Turkey than at any point in the past two years.

Potential Breakout 2008: Dax McCarty on the U-23 team. He played a solid role coming off the bench with the U-20s and could feature prominently for both FC Dallas in MLS and the U-23s in Olympic qualifying and the Olympics itself.

Friday: Best and worst 2007: US National Team

Saturday: Best and worst of 2007: USL

Sunday: Best and worst of 2007: MLS

Monday: Best and worst of 2007: Yanks Abroad

Miles Yet To Go

The US U-20 team crashed and burned before the semifinals once again in the FIFA Under 20 World Cup. (Formerly the FIFA World Youth Championship). For the sixth straight time this event was held, the United States has advanced to the knock out stage of the event but once again lacked the quality or technical ability to break down a more seasoned opponent before the semi-finals. Even though US Soccer has made great strides, today's loss to Austria still showed that the high energy game the US plays needs to be enhanced by greater technical skills among our young players.

I am not here to knock Major League Soccer, and I recognize that much of success of the National Team has to do with the domestic league. However when in MLS or the American College ranks our promising youngsters seem to not get the coaching on technique and development of their technical skills that many European and South American players receive. With the very notable exception of Freddy Adu who has loads of god given ability, today's match showed the limit to what is acquired in MLS or American colleges by players who are based domestically.

As excited as this Under 20 run was for all of us, this team was only slightly more successful than the teams that played the last five times this event has been held. Those teams featured such hyped youngsters as Santino Quaranta, Eddie Gaven, Jason Moore and Kyle Martino. Each of the previously mentioned players were highly touted players before the age of 20, and yet each of them failed to develop in MLS to the levels expected of them. Let's hope some of the revelations of this tournament like Danny Szetela, Sal Zizzo, and Dax McCarty do not go the same route. Robbie Rogers who had a poor game today however showed throughout this tournament that his short stint in Holland has improved his game immeasurably.

US Soccer, MLS and USL need to be much more creative and innovative in how we develop young players in this country. Otherwise, the entire U-20 squad would be well served to try and sign professional contracts with any club in a nation like Holland or Germany where their talents can be honed. The excitement generated by this year's version of the U-20 should provide the impetus for the USSF to make a change domestically so that at some point in the near future we can realistically compete to win major international events.

US U-20 World Cup History

I have gotten a number of requests for a historical perspective on the US run at the U-20 World Cup. Contrary to what many may think, the US actually has quite a proud tradition of advancing in this competition but as the following table shows, typically the US finds a way to lose in either the Round of 16 or in the Quarterfinals. The point is, unlike the Senior World Cup, the US is accustomed to advancing into the knock out stage at this event, but the exception of a fluke qualification in 1989 (because Mexico was disqualified from this event and the 1990 FIFA World Cup for using ineligible players) the US has never gotten past the quarterfinals. This chart begins in 1983, which is not when the event began but is the first time the US qualified.

US u-20 History


1983

3rd in Group stage, did not advance

Key players: Hugo Perez, George Gelnovatch


1985- DNQ

1987

3rd in Group stage, did not advance

1989

2nd in Group stage,
SEMIFINALIST

Key players: Steve Snow, Eric Wynalda, Kasey Keller

1991- DNQ

1993

2nd in Group stage.
QUARTERFINALIST

Key Players: Imad Baba, Miles Joseph, Kerry Zavagnan


1995-DNQ

1997

3rd in Group stage; 2nd best 3rd place team- advanced

LOST in Round of 16

Key players: Ben Olsen, Brian West, Josh Wolff, John O’Brien

1999

2nd in Group Stage

LOST in Round of 16

Key players: Taylor Twellman, Carlos Bocanegra, Cory Gibbs, Tim Howard

2001

2nd in Group stage

LOST in Round of 16

Key players: Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, Bobby Convey

2003

Won Group

Lost in QUARTERFINALS

Key players: Eddie Johnson (Golden ball winner), Clint Dempsey, Bobby Convey

2005

Won Group

Lost in Round of 16

Key players: Freddy Adu, Benny Feilhaber, Lee Nguyen, Jonathan Spector

US to face Uruguay in Round of 16

The US U-20 team which won Group D in the FIFA U-20 World Cup will Uruguay, the 3rd place finisher in Group B, Wednesday at 7:45pm eastern time.

US Beat Brazil; Win Group D @ U-20 World Cup

Friday night’s victory for the United States over Brazil in the U-20 World Cup was one of the great moments of the past several years for US Soccer. Brazil’s squad features the incomparable Alexandre Pato, but tonight Freddy Adu made a strong case that at this level he is as effective as Pato. Adu’s excellent ball skills and confidence were on full display with a world class run and shot in minute 81 led to Jozy Altidore’s game winning goal. Adu was dominant but in truth the US defense was quite worrying. After a sold first two matches Nathan Sturgis and Tony Beltran both seemed to have their hands more than full with Brazil’s attack. Chris Seitz despite losing control of the ball on Brazil’s goal, was perfectly positioned all night long and quite frankly bailed out his defense on several occasions after breakdowns in the defensive third.

Freddy Adu’s work rate and composure were amazing in the match. His poor form in MLS seems to not be representative of the type of player he is in big matches: he’s proven time and time again when he’s played at the international level or in a club friendly versus top level European competition he raises his game to a very high level. Around minute 60, it seemed to legs of all the US players excepting Adu and Michael Bradley were dying or were already dead. Runs were being mistimed, and the ball work and passing was becoming sloppier and sloppier. Quite frankly, at this point I felt Coach Thomas Rongen should have substituted holding midfielder Dax McCarty, a scrappy ball winner for Altidore whose passes and runs were becoming more and more erratic.

Unfortunately, when Brazil scored in the 64th minute, it was necessary to keep Altidore on the pitch. The devastating pre-tournament injuries to Quavas Kirk (a midfielder who pushes often into the attack) and Johann Smith have forced Altidore to work alone up top and have clearly worn him down. From minutes 65 until he scored the game winning goal thanks to being positioned properly for a rebound, Altidore was completely ineffective and appeared to be completely spent. The same can be said for Robbie Rogers, another valuable attacking player for the US, who Rongen did pull out in the 82nd minute after Altidore’s game winning goal. During the same period Sal Zizzo, who has been the US’ second best player in the group stage (behind Adu) also looked like the outstanding runs he had made in the first two and a half matches of the tournament were a thing of the past as his energy level looked very low. In addition, Zizzo failed to track back on defense twice and left Tony Beltran totally exposed on the right side, and this almost led to two Brazilian goals. But Freddy Adu kept on trucking so to speak, and his amazing, high energy play during this period of the match won the US Team the group. Altidore has to be given credit however for toiling through his obvious fatigue and positioning himself in a textbook manner at the far post for a rebound that won the group for the United States.

After the US reclaimed the lead at 2-1 it seemed everyone on the squad dug a little deeper and found whatever energy they had left. But Brazil, considered the top U-20 team in the world before this tournament began created a relentless assault on the US goal in the last ten minutes. By this time, South Korea had drawn level with Poland in the other group match and it appeared that the US could still win the group with a draw. But thanks to Chris Seitz, who was noticeably spent at the end of the match the South Korea-Poland result did not matter and the US won the group with three points to spare.

Tonight’s victory spoke to the character of the U-20 team, a character that has rarely been exhibited in big matches outside the United States by the Senior National Team. Certainly the draw in the 2006 World Cup against Italy, the 1999 Confederations Cup win versus Germany and the 1995 Copa America win against Argentina belong high in any category, but through the years it seems when the Senior National Team has had an opportunity like this on the international stage, they have often times wilted. Despite facing a constant assault from a desperate team that was favored to win this tournament our boys held strong. I guess we learned tonight, to quote the Who, the kids are alright! (Even if we are still fretting over the Senior National Team’s Copa America performance).

The US will next play on Wednesday against the third place team from either Group B,E, or F. The possible teams the US will face are Zambia, Jordan, Scotland, North Korea or Costa Rica.

US Game Tonight Moved to ESPN

Realizing the national buzz growing around the US U-20 team, ESPN executives have wisely made the decision to move tonight's massive US-Brazil match to ESPN from ESPN U. The match will also be availible on ESPN 360 and ESPN HD.

The Game of a Lifetime

Jozy Altidore/Getty Sports Images

Earlier, my fellow blogger usasoccerfan16 said that Tuesday's World Cup game between the US U-20 squad and Poland's U-20 squad could be one of the biggest games in the lives of several of the US players. Well, usasoccerfan16 was right and the players as well as Coach Thomas Rongen knew how big it was and gave one of the most impressive efforts in the history of US Soccer, winning 6 to 1 over a very good Poland squad.

My last sentence may seem like an overstatement, but given the performance of a player like Freddy Adu who has been written off by many in the US Soccer community and the media as well as the continued development of Danny Szetela (who has been linked with several European clubs), Robbie Rogers, Jozy Altidore and Tony Beltran, the future of US Soccer seems like it could be as bright as has ever been. Even though the United States has advanced into the knock out phase of the last five FIFA World Youth Championships (the forerunner of the FIFA U-20 World Cup), never has the US been so dominant in a single match or even dominant in group play. For example, in 2003 despite winning the group, the US suffered a 3-1 first round loss to Germany. In 1999, the US followed up an opening game victory over England with a crushing defeat against Japan. In the last World Youth Championship, the euphoria of the opening day win over Argentina (the eventual champions) gave way to poor play the rest of the event including a loss in the round of 16.

The bottom line is since the revival of US Soccer in the late 1980s, I cannot recall a single match in FIFA Tournament where the US played opposition of this caliber and looked so dominant. Even during the previous tournaments where the US has advanced to the knock out phases (the past five world youth championships, the 1994 and 2002 World Cups) it has been a struggle to get to that point. Never has the US played respectable opposition and shown the flair and dominant nature we have come to expect from Brazil or Argentina. Besides, rarely before has an American player looked as impressive at any level as Freddy Adu did today. What I cannot understand is why Adu needs to feel besieged at the same time as the bright lights are shining on him to perform. This sort of thing has happened before as every time a European team of some standing came to the USA to either face DC United or the MLS All Stars, Adu has raised his game to a new level. Then when the lights dimmed and MLS action returned, Adu has been missing in action.

The hope of all US Soccer fans should be that today's game of a lifetime for Freddy Adu and his teammates is a proper indicator as to where US Soccer is heading. We should also hope it's the breakthrough game for Freddy Adu whose disappointing career now becomes what people have imagined it would: the first legitimate world superstar to be bred on American soil.

As Good as it Gets

Tonight's 6-1 win for the US Under 20 team at the U-20 World Cup (formerly the FIFA World Youth Championships) was as good a performance as I have ever seen by any US team against respectable opposition in a FIFA or CONCACAF event.(note I excluded COMEBOL events because the 3-0 win over Argentina in the 1995 Copa America deserves its own spot at the very top) I'll have much more on the win by Thomas Rongen's boys later tonight.

Freddy Adu's Wonder Strike

Freddy Adu just scored perhaps the best goal I have seen an American player make since Eric Wynalda in the 1994 World Cup or at least since Preki's goal versus Brazil in 1998. The goal gives the US a 2-1 lead against Poland in minute 21, at the U-20 World Cup. More on the game and hopefully a clip on the goal later tonight.

Awful Performance For US U-20 Team

Football is a funny game. The US Copa America Team played Argentina toe to toe for 65 minutes on Thursday night, yet lost by the lopsided score of 4 to 1. Yesterday the highly touted US Under 20 National Team was thoroughly dominated by South Korea in the U-20 World Cup Opener but managed a 1-1 draw. US Coach Thomas Rongen has a lot of work to do before the US faces Poland who shocked Brazil yesterday on Tuesday.

The injury to Bolton's Johann Smith has devastated this team, forcing Jozy Altidore to play alone up top, while receiving supporting runs from Freddy Adu, and Sal Zizzo. Michael Bradley played well for the US but seemed to lack the energy he brought to the full national team in the Gold Cup. Every 50-50 ball seemed to go the way of the Koreans, who also had plenty of opportunity to build up and sustain their attack.

From my perspective the best US players last night were Dax McCarty of FC Dallas who entered the game for goal scorer Danny Szetela in minute fifty three, and Goalkeeper of Chris Seitz of Real Salt Lake. McCarty was strong on the ball and broke up many promising Korean attacks. Seitz had a rocky start to the season with RSL eventually giving way to Nick Rimando between the Salt Lake posts, but he was outstanding and focused yesterday and he single handedly won the US a valuable point.

US Draw With South Korea at U-20 World Cup

I had just gotten off a plane when I watched this match, so I want to rewatch the match before commenting, but on my first impression, we were very lucky to get a draw against a far superior Koren squad. More to come later.

Rongen Names World Cup Roster

US U-20 Head Coach Thomas Rongen named his 22 man roster for this summer's U-20 World Cup in Canada. Freddy Adu will become only the second player in FIFA history to compete at three U-20 World Cups. Here is the full US Roster:

Roster by positionGOALKEEPERS (3): Brian Perk (UCLA), Steve Sandbo (SMU), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS (6): Tony Beltran (UCLA), Amaechi Igwe (New England Revolution), Ofori Sarkodie (Indiana University), Nathan Sturgis (LA Galaxy), Julian Valentin (Wake Forest), Tim Ward (Columbus Crew)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Freddy Adu (Real Salt Lake), Bryan Arguez (D.C. United), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Dax McCarty (F.C. Dallas), Danny Szetela (Columbus Crew), Anthony Wallace (F.C. Dallas)
FORWARDS (6): Andre Akpan (Harvard), Josmer Altidore (N.Y. Red Bulls), Gabriel Ferrari (Sampdoria), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), Johann Smith (Bolton F.C.), Sal Zizzo (UCLA)