2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup Round of 16 USA vs France Tuesday, June 4th, 2019 11:30 AM (ET) Bydgoszcz Stadium Bydgoszcz, Poland Fox Sports 2 and NBC Universo France's Squad: Their path here: The French opened up European qualifying with a 7-0 drubbing of tiny Andorra, they then went on to beat Bosnia (in Bosnia) 2-1. They closed out the first round with a somewhat eyebrow raising 1-1 draw to Georgia, though it is important to keep in mind that they had already clinched the group at that point. In round 2 they were handed a pretty brutal qualifying group with Belgium, Bulgaria, and Spain (who was the host), however they earned 9 points in 3 games. They overcame a 2-0 deficit to Belgium by scoring 3 goals in the last 10 minutes, they beat Bulgaria 2-0, and closed out the group with a 4-2 win over Spain. In The European Championship they were grouped with England, Turkey and our group stage opponent Ukraine. They opened with Ukriane, and actually lost 2-1, thanks to an 85th minute goal. France did play the final 30 minutes of that game down a man though after a red card. They quickly rebounded from the opening loss, drubbing both England and Turkey by a score of 5-0. This earned them 2nd in the group and punched their ticket into Poland. They went on to play a semifinal against Italy, where they lost 2-0. They have 9 points in 3 matches at this World Cup, beating Panama 2-0, Saudi Arabia 2-0, and The African Champs Mali 3-2
At least Pomykal is rested. I would love to see Cerrillo since we'll need someone stout in front of our back line, but I doubt Tab will play him. Please, let's play Richards and McKenzie at centerback. I've seen Keita at Richmond, and he is not up to this level.
The type of opponent where we normally need to take a half chance to score to have a shot to win. Not convinced this team is capable, it seems to struggle turning possession into full chances, which are not converted at a high %. If we keep good possession against France, they will impress me but it still needs to lead to chances. I'd like to see to Tab find a guy who can actually tackle at DM. Durkin wasn't it. Does he have anybody else?
I disagree. Player for player they're better than us. But as we all know the game is played on the pitch and not in someone's notes, and upsets can and do happen. It's a tall order to beat France, and I just hope that they give it their best.
Flip them. Ledezma as the 10, Pomykal as the 8 and Cerillo as the 6. There's no way Servania doesn't play, but I think this is our best 3 man midfield.
He has Cerillo. Is he good enough for going against France? Perhaps not, but he has a starting spot at FC Dallas ahead of Servania and has good chemistry with Pomykal because of it.
If there’s one thing I know, it’s that Tab doesn’t care that Cerrillo is playing over Servania. I’m hoping Tab comes to the realization bshredder thinks he will, that he will watch the tape and see how bad Servania was last game. My only concern with Cerrillo is he hasn’t played this tournament or with this team. I’m worried he can be a step behind if he walks into a game against one of the best u20 teams in the world. I get it, he’s started in mls, but we all know there is a difference between mls and the top European leagues, which many of these French players have played in. Hopefully, if he plays, Ledezma and Pomykal help keep possession and take some of the French pressure off by moving the ball into the attacking half and not being careless or making stupid mistakes. As a whole, we haven’t been great at that so far.
For all the talk of how much farther along U.S. U-20s are in their careers, their experience pales in comparison to that of the French U-20s: 509 first-team games (top two tiers). GK Alban Lafont (132) has more than all U.S. players combined (108). https://t.co/ZTe9A9ITya— Paul Kennedy (@pkedit) June 1, 2019
I think what we're likely to see is the FCD midfield trio of Pomykal, Cerrillo, and Servania. It must makes sense under the circumstances. Although I couldn't tell you the last time they started a game together.
France is a hard team to get a handle on this tournament. They haven’t really had to push hard in any of their games. Saudi Arabia played them pretty well but were a man down and just surrendered the ball. Panama never threatened them either. Over two games they had a very small number of shots per minute of possession. They opened up more against Mali and that was a good game but it never felt like France was in any danger. The USA is going to have to ramp up the intensity of the game to have a chance. The key will be shutting down France’s speed on the wings and keeping the ball away from Diaby and Cuisance. If France plays aggressively then there will be space to play into on the wings. The middle of the park is going to be tough to break through and of course they have a top class keeper for a U20 team. It will take some luck to beat them.
It is worth remembering that 3 months ago, USA played against France and it was a 2-2 draw. The French team had played with substitute players and United States with an "Team A". Alioui had scored the French goals, De La Fuente and Cappis scored the goals for the United States. France: Desprez; Sissoko, Dembele, Basila, Niakate; Todibo, Fofana, Soumare; Mbeumo, Chouiar, Alioui USA: Dos Santos; Dest, Richards, Gloster, Real; Mendez, Durkin, Amaya; Akinola, De La Fuente, Rennicks
Thanks for posting this. Would you really characterize a lineup with Real, Amaya, Akinola, and Rennicks as a "Team A"?
Kennedy is right, but let's put this in perspective. We can't expect to go from a U20 team with a mix of players on youth teams (albeit in pro environments), a smattering of 1st teamers, a few college kids, maybe a couple of DA players, which was the norm in previous cycles, to a team that has primarily first teamers on good clubs without going through transitional steps. This cycle we've just progressed to having everyone in pro environments, but with the majority still not ready for 1st team action. That's progress, and maybe in a few more cycles we'll see a greater % of our players getting significant 1st team minutes on good teams. Can we beat France? I suppose anything is possible, but given the obvious contrast of the level of players we don't stand a chance. But this is not only important for our players to experience but just as important, the coaching staff, and U.S. Soccer in general. This is what everyone should be aiming for.
Also, last year, our U20s split a two-match friendly series with France U21. Lost 2-0 and won 1-0 against older '97-'98 French players. True, it was clearly a B if not C-squad for France, and our U20s still had Josh Sargent at the time, but it was overall not our A-squad either. https://www.soccerwire.com/news/nt/...late-game-winner-to-defeat-france-u-21-squad/
Certainly not. My mistake. I meant that for that game, that team could have been considered "Team A" because many of the best players had not been called for that tournament (Scott, Ochoa, McKenzie, Araujo, Ledezma, Cerrillo, Pomykal, Weah, Sargent ).
I mean some of this will be helped by our full national team pool getting stronger as well. How many of France's players for example would have gotten the Tyler Adams/Josh Sargent treatment if they were in our pool and missed this tournament all together? How more confident would you feel heading into Tuesday with Tyler Adams in the midfield and Sargent being available? I've been paying attention to American youth teams since 2006, I've gone through all the cycles of hope and burn. I know we will go through the same cycle with a good portion of these players as well. BUT, the product we are able to put out at the U-20 level is usually indicative of the greater talent available at the level in the pool and if it's any indicator we have upped our overall game.
Probably not much better to be honest, but that 2013 squad is still the worst team that we've had in quite some time IMO. It's shocking that they were able to get a result against the eventual champs