PBP: 2017 CONCACAF U-20 Championship: USA vs. Saint Kitts and Nevis 2/24 5:30 ET

Haiti were poor, but even they managed to beat St Kitts & Nevis 5-1.

It's time to rotate the squad, give some players a rest, and let the back end of the roster have their day in the sun. There's nothing riding on running up the score in this one.

 

Marcinkowski
Herrera-Redding-Trusty-Acosta
Gutjahr-Gonzalez
Saucedo
Lennon-Craft-Sabbi

 

I'm interested in seeing Gonzalez, particularly because he's a younger who's eligible for the '19 team.

 

Looked fine when I saw him play in the Fall, although I wouldn't say he was so good that he deserved to be playing up a cycle. I would've preferred Lindley and Yueill on this roster to Gutjahr and Gonzalez.

 

We still have to win this to advance, right?

 

Goal differential potentially matters and don't want too many possible pants pissers, so I'd put out a half a-side at least because fo that.

Maybe you throw Gonzalez in there for DLT because he sucked so badly so what's the point in preserving that? Put EPB behind him to protect his back side.

Give Craft a run out at CF, with Lennon behind him. I want to see how many times Lennon can show up in dangerous positions and score, even if it is against such a weak opponent. You'd get a little more sense if there's something to his movement, which seemed very sharp against Haiti.

Saucedo needs another chance, and Williamson too. I'm curious to see how Williamson looks out wide. He's got speed, moves, and some vision. Lewis probably showed enough to where you could sit him, and he may have taken a knock. But if we somehow have problems scoring he may be in the back pocket for the 2nd half.

Try Fossey on the left for future matches because we're much stronger with rb options.

Trusty should play. The CB's will have little to do anyway.

Marcinkowski should have been the pick over Klinsmann from the start.

 

GD from our upcoming game does not matter whatsoever. Here are the tiebreakers, from Wikipedia:

1. Greater number of points in matches between the tied teams
2. Greater goal difference in matches between the tied teams
3. Greater number of goals scored in matches between the tied teams
4. Greater goal difference in all group matches
5. Greater number of goals scored in all group matches
6. Drawing of lots

Let's assume the US wins and finishes with six points.

1. If Panama wins or draws, they win the group and the US comes second

2. If Haiti beats Panama, then the three countries will be tied with six points. The first tiebreaker won't work because each country would have three points. Then it comes down to GD in the three games between the three countries. This actually favors the US because we are +2. Unless Haiti wins by five or more goals (extremely unlikely), the US wins the group.

3. If Haiti wins by exactly five goals, USA would be +2, Haiti would be +2, and Panama would be -4. The next tiebreaker would be goals scored among these matches. The US will finish with four goals (against PAN and HAI) and Haiti would have no fewer than six in this scenario, securing the #1 spot.

No chance to get to #4 - GD in all matches.

 

As long as we don't lose by 5 goals - which would put SK+N ahead of us - then we just need as good or better result than Haiti. That's it.

If by some miracle Haiti beats Panama then that opens the door for us to get first place. So really no bad scenario for us right now.

That said it's most likely that Haiti will have lost by a couple of goals and we'll be looking at a pretty meaningless game. Something like don't lose to SK+N by more than three goals.

 

At this point, finishing second in Group B might be the best possible outcome for the US.

In the second stage, all that matters is not finishing in last place in the group of three. So really, avoiding the toughest opponent isn't nearly as important as being matched up with the weakest opponent. Since we can't be placed with Panama, the four possible opponents are Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, and El Salvador.

I'll take El Salvador, but it looks like we'll only face them if we finish second since they will win Group C as long as they get at least four points against Bermuda and T&T.

 

We will win by losing 1-0.

 

Though I'm personally rooting for my fellow Lobo Aaron Herrera to see the field, I'm not sure I want to go complete B lineup with this game. These qualifiers can be weird, and I wouldn't rule out an ugly game, especially if we take a little while to break the bunker. I'd still keep a decent chunk of the first team, and give some other guys run outs as subs.

 

At this point I want to see if DLT or Bofo can do anything at all. Put them on the field together and see if either deserves any minutes whatsoever. So far, IMO, neither has. Stick with your same CBs, too.

 

Brooks Lennon talks about where the team sits

 

Do you know if EPB is injured? He came off right after receiving a bad tackle against Haiti.

 

This match and all the others in the tournament should be available here: http://tdmascr.com/.

 

I'll say this about Facebook Live and this tournament: It's the first opportunity I've had to (happily) use the Airplay function on my Apple TV.

 

Wish I knew how to do that

 

Is Javier Perez still working for US Soccer? He seems to be our best coach over the past few years....

 

He left to take an assistant job at NYCFC last winter.

Many of his U18 regulars that were bequeathed to the current U20 cycle got shellacked in early camps and were dropped.

I'd be curious to hear takes about current U18 coach Omid Namazi.

 

He was the coach that fixed the Richie Williams problem. @Balerion which players are you referring too?

 

Im preperation.... maybe Tab should bring some of these guys back in.....

 

Was way simpler than I realized. If you have AppleTV hooked up to your device (I'm using a Mac laptop) click the Airplay button at upper right and the rest should be easy.

A snarkier me might've made one of my "Sigh, millennials..." posts. It's an Apple product, for Pete's sake!