PBP: Haiti vs USA U20: 2/18 : CONCACAF U20

Thread for pre-, in-, and post-game thoughts. Game is at 6:30 pm Eastern time on Monday (President's Day here in the States). Game will be on FOX Soccer.

Rosters:
USA:
GOALKEEPERS (3): 1-Cody Cropper (Southampton; Maple Grove, Minn.), 12-Kendall McIntosh (Santa Clara; Santa Rosa, Calif.), 22-Zack Steffen (FC DELCO Academy; Downington, Pa.)
DEFENDERS (6): 18-Eric Miller (Creighton; Woodbury, Minn.), 3-Juan Pablo Ocegueda (C.D. Guadalajara; Riverside, Calif.), 2-Boyd Okwuonu (North Carolina; Edmund, Okla.), 5-Shane O’Neill (Colorado Rapids; Boulder, Colo.), 4-Caleb Stanko (Freiburg; Holly, Mich.), 14-Javan Torre (UCLA; Santa Monica, Calif.)
MIDFIELDERS (5): 10-Luis Gil (Real Salt Lake; Garden Grove, Calif.), 8-Benji Joya (Santos Laguna; San Jose, Calif.), 15-Mikey Lopez (Sporting Kansas City; Mission, Texas), 16-Dillon Serna (Colorado Rapids; Brighton, Colo.), 6-Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew; Gahanna, Ohio)
FORWARDS (6): 19-Brandon Allen (Georgetown; Old Bridge, N.J.), 20-Daniel Cuevas (Santos Laguna; Sacramento, Calif.), 17-Danny Garcia (North Carolina; Dallas, Texas), 11-Jerome Kiesewetter (Stuttgart; Berlin, Germany), 9-Mario Rodriguez (Kaiserslautern; North Hollywood, Calif.) 7-Jose Villarreal (LA Galaxy; Inglewood, Calif.)

Haiti:
GOALKEEPERS (2) : 1-Marc Donald Mervil, 12-Ronald Elusma
DEFENDERS (4): 2-Jude Saint-Louis, 3-Ismael Voltaire, 4-Charles Alexandre, 17-Jean Dany Maurice
MIDFIELDERS (10): 5-Ylosier Givemilord, 6-Renald Metellus, 8-Evens Saint-Jean, 10- Amicy Esso Faudelyn, 11-Alfred Sonthonax, 14-Luckner Horat Jr., 15-Wilberne Augusmat, 16-Paulson Pierre, 18-Eltinor Saturne, 19-Spencer Desir
FORWARDS (4): 7-Dumy Fede, 9-Chery Johnley, 13-Duckens Nazon, 20-Jhon Estama

This is my projected lineup.

The roster numbers should give you a hint.

Ocegueda is the Hector Herrera of the U20 USMNT.

If this is the starting lineup, Villarreal would probably line up on the left, and Kiesewetter at CF. Although FWIW there was a video showing Kiesewetter doing stuff on the left* sideline.

EDIT: *right sideline

Was the best I could find.

I consider it a service for the greater good.

Plus my car is in the shop so I was stuck at home all day.

No problem and none taken. These headshots can often be amusing.

But it's nice to have a cheat sheet to help fans get to know new faces.

I don't even need to see a name next to O'Neil to know that he's of Irish descent, and he was indeed born there and moved to the U.S. when he was an infant. He also looks like he's at least 25 y/o.

Gil actually looks his age now, even last season he still looked like a 16 y/o kid (he's the youngest '93 and 4th youngest overall on the team).

I can't believe we tipped our hand like that. Next thing you know we'll be giving Haiti a copy of our playbook!

And our game plan: "1.Score 2.Shut Out 3.Repeat 4.Make Some Subs"

Two of the Haitian players are US-based:

Evens Saint-Jean: http://ussda.demosphere.com/teams/47158256/47187428-47158344/43011201.html

Jhon Benchy Estama: http://ussda.demosphere.com/teams/47158256/47187428-47158344/43011156.html

Both play for the NYRB Academy U18 squad: http://www.redbullsacademy.com/academy/rosters/players.aspx?RosterId=3 and for Columbia HS in NJ.

We know one of them definitely won't make the starting XI...

Pretty excited for this to start. Always exciting to see a new crop come through the U-20 cycle. Hope Kiesewetter starts, want to see what he's about.

Is there a rule our keepers have to be bald before they take the starting job for the USMNT? If so, Cropper looks like he's off to a decent start. His hairline is higher than Lebron's.

The future starts tonight, I can feel it coming.

USA!

Tonight is must-win.

And when you think about it...........perhaps must-win by a bunch of goals.

For if the US and Costa Rica draw (certainly possible), then the group could be decided by who beat Haiti by more goals. And I personally would love to avoid Canada in the do-or-die game if at all possible.

I wanna see us come out and dominate this game from start to finish.

My prediction: 4-0 good guys.