2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup Group Stage USA vs Qatar Thursday, May 30th, 2019 2:30 PM (ET) Tychy Stadium Tychy, Poland Fox Sports 2 and NBC Universo Qatar's Squad: Their path here: To qualify for The Asian Championship, The Qataris hosted a 3 team group featuring Lebanon and Iraq. In game 1 they beat Lebanon 2-0 and drew Iraq 1-1 (they did win in penalties) In The Asian Championship they were drawn with The UAE, Taipei and the hosts Indonesia. They lost their opener to The UAE 2-1. They played an absolutely wild game 2 against Indonesia where they took a 6-1 lead in the 56th minute, but allowed 4 goals after that, hanging on for a rare 6-5 victory. They closed out the group stage with a 4-0 victory over Taipei. The group actually ended in a 3 way tie with them, Indonesia, and The UAE, but The Qataris were given first place on tie breakers. They went on to play a do or die quarterfinal against Thailand and they were facing elimination down 3-2 when they scored a late equalizer to send it to extra time. They scored 4 goals in extra time to give them another rarely seen scoreline, a 7-3 win. This earned them their spot in Poland. They played South Korea in the semis, and lost fairly easily. They were down 3-0 at the half, but gone one back in the second thanks to an own goal for a 3-1 final score. It's been a rough start in Poland, they lost 4-0 to Nigeria and 1-0 to Ukraine.
Curious to see how Tab manages squad rotation. We're likely facing France in The Round of 16, but we could potentially avoid that if we run up the score. This seems like a great game to get some rest in, but it is one we still a need result in and preferably a blowout win
2nd place would likely mean France. I'm happy we won today, but ironically it could lead to us getting a harder game. If we win we're going to finish at least second. If we win, Nigeria bbeats Ukraine, and if we win by more goals than Nigeria does, we could top the group.
On coming in 2nd and having to possibly face France- I'm sure the coaches are aware of this, but their first priority is to qualify. Nobody should play to lose or tie, always be winning, always, and let the chips fall where they may.
Agreed. All knockout games can be tough; France would be an especially difficult opponent, but the US needs to approach the rest of the tournament with confidence, not fear. We all believe we have a relatively deep squad. Ramos should rotate the squad, give chances to Araujo, Ledezma, Llanez, and Cerrillo, and have faith that those guys can beat Qatar. From there, let the chips fall where they may — with a healthy, rested squad free of yellow card trouble.
Insane we could be facing players like Zagaduo who played with Pulisic at Dortmund earlier in the season. The positive if we face France is that expectations will be low. There were a couple posts wondering how we’d fair without much possession, this would be that test.
I'd definitely get the guys that haven't played yet some run like Ochoa, Cerrillo, Araujo, Ledezma, Uly. Tab will be Tab though and probably just start Rennicks and Servania.
According to this reporter (and Twitter translate), Chris Richards will likely only be out for 2-3 days and may miss the Qatar game. cc @zlebmada https://t.co/j5QtBELYUH— Kevin Morris (@socceralt) May 28, 2019
Damn shame about this outcome. Seems that the odds-on fave to win it all (France) should have been set up against one of the 3d place teams. that said, it could be that an already-qualified Ukraine and a result-needing Nigeria matchup could result in a big win for the latter. That's wishful thinking by me, of course--I'd wager that Nigeria matches up even worse with Ukraine's suffocatingly effective defend-and-counter approach than we did. If we finish third though all's not lost, I'm sure France is really good (I know this only from word of mouth, never actually seen them) but hey what better time than now for a signature win for our youth program on the world stage? Also don't we finish third if Nigeria and Ukraine draw and we draw Qatar? Doesn't seem impossible.
If France falls to second in their group then they are not as strong a team and we should use that as a motivation point, that is if we are second in our group.
We're not afraid of France. Take care of this game against Qatar.............and bring 'em on. That's the point of going to tournaments like this. To play the best & test yourselves. Squad rotation required against Qatar. Ho hum. We'll just use players from the Bundesliga and Eredevisie like Llanez and Ledesma.
Also folks are being a little glib about the likelihood of our beating Qatar. I think we will, but Ukraine beat them only 1-0, and we lost to Ukraine by the same margin. I realize there's no transitive property in soccer (bc otherwise we could say since we beat Nigeria and Nigeria beat Qatar, we are a lock to beat Qatar--which may be what most people are assuming), but still this at least suggests the possibility that Qatar has regrouped since its opening loss to Nigeria and may not be the ragtag group that many dismissed after that game.
The scores of those games are also dictated by style of play. The US plays much more wide open than Ukraine, similar to Nigeria in a way just much more skilled. Nigeria toyed with Qatar and I’d expect us to do more of the same. Hoping for 3-0 at least, but that’s why we play the game.
I was thinking this would be an interesting exercise to see where everyone's head is at regarding the players on this team. Pick one player for each superlative: Best overall player at this moment: Pomykal. Mendez has been really good and has been flashier, but Pomykal is so impactful defensively as well as with the ball that I'd have to give the nod to him. Highest ceiling: Richards. There's really nothing about his game that I look at and think "That could limit his ability to be a top 3 league player" in Europe. Don't know if he gets there, but he has all the tools. Most important/valuable player to the team: Richards. I'm thinking about this in the way of "If there was one player this team would be hurt the most by missing games, who would that be?" (Lets hope he's back quickly) Soto could also be up here. Most pleasant surprise: Gloster. He was a placeholder on youth teams for many years, because just like the MNT at his position, we couldn't find anyone better to replace him. He's been legitimately excellent the first 2 games, and his time at Hannover has been great for him.
The prospect of playing France doesn't scare me in the slightest, though my advice would be to avoid playing against them at all costs.
Using that same logic Ukraine should kill Nigeria since we beat them 2-0 and we lost to Ukraine. I think these 4 games will be tight. We are not going to beat Qatar 4-0 or more. My guess is we probably beat them 2-0. I just hope Nigeria do beat Ukraine by the smallest margin.
Plus................Qatar has something to play for. They are NOT eliminated. If they beat us, they can advance if they finish in 3rd place of 3 points. But they have to come out swinging to overcome goal difference. They cannot use Ukraine's formula for beating us. As far as I know, the tiebreaker is goal difference. Not head to head. So beating us 2-1 does them no good. They have to win big. So I expect attack, attack, attack. How do our kids respond? And some of our backups at that? I expect they'll respond just fine. We'll see.
Best player Pomykal Highest Ceiling Weah if can figure out how to play (has pedigree and athleticism and connections) Most important to the team: Pomykal Most pleaseant surprise: Richards. After watching him for one year at FCD I did not see the hype. I recall him getting toasted left and right by small quick kids at GA cup a few years ago. Figured he was just a big body and CB are big. He has been really good, right place right time, calm and composed.
If Richards is out...i'd consider moving Durkin back to CB and Pomykal back to Dmid... really wanna see Llanez and ledezma (and aruajo too)....thought they'd both get some time......
Scott Araujo-McKenzie-Keita-Gloster Cerrillo-Servania Ledezma Weah-Soto-Llanez We still need to qualify for the next round, but I would rest some players because if we want to be in top form heading into the knockout round, we don't want some of our best players to play too many minutes. We could fail to qualify with the back ups, but I think a mix of the back ups and starters are probably good enough to get a result.
\ I would have the same starting xi, except rotate out Weah for Rennicks. Weah is getting burnt out. No need to waste him in a game they only only need a draw in and will be big favorites in even with their virtual second unit. As for Rennicks, he has been kind of a monster on the right wing. Take-ons, killer balls, good runs, and pressuring the defense. I think the prejudice because of his club situation or collegiate status, or overreaction to his one weakness which is finishing, should cease. If he steps up again, as he did in qualifiers, he should be under consideration for a super sub role or even starting if KDLF keeps up his lackluster play and considering his style is more versatile/suited for countering. I would rotate in Real, but the creativity is really lacking otherwise, with only one CAM too. This is where the exclusion of Aaronson really hurts.
I wouldn't start Weah in the first knockout game. He can play three in a row here. Not starting Gloster should be considered, but he didn't play the full game against Ukraine, so he did have some sort of rest. I think we need to have some semblance of first XI players out there, so I think picking and choosing which players to keep in there and which to rest is the best idea here.