USA vs Saudi Arabia U-20's Sunday, May 28th 5 AM (ET) Fox Sports 1 Daejeon World Cup Stadium Daejeon, South Korea Saudi Arabia Squad: Entirely domestic based squad for The Saudis, and since my knowledge of The Saudi Professional League is a bit lacking I won't claim to know a lot about this team. Both Al-Najei and Al-Dossari do have a senior team cap that came last year but just one. Both Al-Najei and Al-Yami split The Golden Boot in their qualifying tournament with 4 goals each which is impressive as no other player in the entire tournament scored more than 3. So they seem semi capable of getting the ball in the back of the net. In order to qualify for The AFC U-19 Championship they had to win a group featuring Yemen, Syria, and Turkmenistan which they easily did winning all 3 games by a combined margin of 11 to 1. In the tournament itself they got off to a poor start against hosts Bahrain, where they managed to come back from a 2 goal deficit before letting in a heartbreaker 4 minutes into stoppage time losing them the game. They shook that off though and went on to pummel Thailand 4-0 and then picked up a very impressive win over South Korea to advance them out of the group. In the do or die quarterfinal they took on Iraq, where they blew a 2-0 lead in the final 15 minutes but escaped in the penalty shootout to qualify. In the semis they won what I'm sure was a thrilling 6-5 game over Iran before losing the championship to Japan in penalties. Scenarios for The US:(I tend to suck at these so feel free to correct) Finish in 1st place: With a win. Also a tie and if Senegal do not beat Ecuador Finish in 2nd place: With a tie and a Senegal win. Also unlikely but if we lose by only 1 goal and Ecuador only wins by 1 goal, but we score more than them (for example if we lose 3-2 and Ecuador wins 1-0) we get second. Finish in 3rd place: With a loss and a Senegal win or tie. Additionally if we lose and do not have the tiebreaker over Ecuador. Advancement: This format makes it almost impossible to not advance with 4 points but in theory it could happen. I'm too lazy to list all the third place scenarios in the other 5 groups but for the US to not advance it would involve one of Guinea stunning Argentina and making up the 4 goal differential edge we have on them, or Vietnam stunning Honduras and making up the 5 goal differential edge we have on them. We should be okay
Can you put the date and time in the title in the future? I think that would help everyone out, but nice job with making the threads.
Just to get way ahead of ourselves, with a win we likely play New Zealand, staying in Incheon. And out there in the quarterfinal, if they beat Venezuela and win their second round match, is the possibility of Mexico in Jeonju. I don't have to tell you what happened in Jeonju on June 17, 2002.
The stage has been set for possible opponent out of group B. Mexico could be a possible opponent if US draws and finishes 2nd in the group. Or a possible opponent in the quarterfinals if USA wins the group. 1F vs 2E -------------- vs. -------------- 2B(Mexico) vs 2F
If USA win the group Mexico are in teh opposite half of the draw, Venezuela are the possible last 8 opponents.
Barely useful information of the day. Group A has Argentina in third place with three points. B has Germany with 4 points and -1 GD. At this moment, the US goes through with a 1 goal loss.
The USA doesn't have a lot to worry about this game, though Saudi Arabia will be gunning for the win. Tab really needs to take this opportunity to rest players and let some others acclimate. The Saudis will need to put out their best XI as this may be an elimination game for them. I wouldn't mind seeing a bit more of Kunga here, as his inclusion is still a mystery to me.
The yellow card to Jones are a concern. Adams, Lennon, Acosta, DLT, and Williamson look the most in need of rest. I'm not sure about Sargent because he looks like he's in good shape. The bench isn't that thrilling, however. Saucedo, Trusty, Sabbi, Ebobisse, Kunga, and Glad are the only field options. If Tab is really going to rest people, Saucedo and Kunga need to step up. I suppose Trusty could give Acosta a break. Moving Glad into the CB role could obviously push EPB into the midfield to give Jones a break. The decision to take both Ebobisse and Sabbi seems like it was a mistake.
I remember watching Sabbi play out wide with the U18's and that looked like a better fit for him than CF, where Tab has been playing him. His best attribute looked to be taking on players where he uses his incredible physical gifts and solid dribbling to beat defenders.
In order to qualify for The AFC U-19 Championship they had to win a group featuring Yemen, Syria, and Turkmenistan which they easily did winning all 3 games by a combined margin of 11 to 1. Without turning this into a political thread what are the chances of getting into a qualifying group that with 2 of the 3 opponents from countries that currently in the middle of civil wars. Good that S.A. still had to go through other qualifying stages or that would have been a real unfair advantage
What will most likely happen tomorrow is that Vietnam does not beat Honduras. As such, the US will find themselves already qualified. Iran will always need a tie to guarantee advancement. The US can play relaxed and patiently look for a win. Iran will be trying to figure out whether to go for a goal or hang on for the tie.
Actually, the US will already have advanced by game time also if any of these three happen tomorrow or Saturday 1) Italy beats Japan. (US ahead of Argentina and Japan in 3rd) 2) Costa Rica doesn't beat Zambia (US ahead of Argentina and either Portugal/Iran) 3) Vietnam doesn't beat honduras (as deejay said) (US ahead of Argentina and Honduras/Vietnam)
Not being very familiar with the dynamics of the U-20 tournament - is there a major incentive to finish out on top of the group as opposed to 2nd or 3rd? Does the quality of opponents change dramatically? Like, is it better to finish first in the group with some fatigue, or finish 3rd (but still advance) with a rested A Squad?
If the US finish first then the opponent is the runner up of group E (probably New Zealand, could be Vietnam, but NZ has a +2GD with 4 points, and Vietnam is on 1 point with -4GD) If the US finishes second the opponent is Mexico. If the US finishes third the opponent is the winner of group C or D (probably Zambia or Uruguay)
We should be looking to win any other mentality going into a game is just crazy! That said, other than protecting players who might get suspended for the next round on yellow card accumulation or someone who is nursing a knock, you play your best 11. I guess it could depend on your philosophy - i.e. youth tournaments are to get as many people experience as possible....but I wouldn't think that makes sense at the WC. It's certainly not how we've played so far.
Just so we're all on the same page..................Saudi Arabia did beat Ecuador in their last match. The statistics tell a different story, though. #soccer pic.twitter.com/1YBHTPjyjz— Will Parchman (@WillParchman) May 25, 2017
Possibly the toughest game, for us, in the group. We suffer against bunkering sides, and playing this Saudi team is like picking a fight with a pangolin. Their keeper is excellent, may become world class.
In the Europa League final Ajax out shot Man United 17-7 and out possessed them 68%-32% while losing 2-0. England were out possessed 59%-41% and out shot 22-7 against Argentina earlier in this tournament but they were still the better team and won 3-0. The statistics mean nothing without watching the match for context. Maybe Saudi Arabia got lucky or maybe they gave an excellent demonstration of how to defend well and counter attack ruthlessly.
The Saudis' striker, Abdulrahman Al-Yami, is the ideal forward in a bunker-and-counter setting: great positional awareness to exploit the long balls, and superb ball control to drop a pass right half a foot of his feet while running. Dangerous guy.
Saudi Arabia play very compact. I was astounded how many white shirts were around the ball all over the pitch when Colombia had the ball. I.o.w., go ahead, Ecuador, here is the ball, now get it thru 9 players in close formation. The distance from back line to forward line is very little and they are good at maintaining it. This also means they increase possibilities on attack - if they can execute. They are getting better at that. We yanks piss on Lennon's performances but look at the difference in support - Saudi has a good right winger as well but they put 3 around the ball when they initiate an attack. Here we have NCAA div I mentality of "he didn't beat anybody" after making a 50 yd run with the ball. Which is why we talk about Lennon's "great crossing ability". What choice did he have anyway? Then with huge spaces between players we berate A.Herrera (rb) for not stopping Cabezas. Utnil we get real midfielders I don't think we are winning anything. Hopefully EPB will move into mid because Justen Glad is healthy enough to start at lb with CCV. .
Saudi Arabia can advance with a draw, the US will finish 1rst or 2nd with a draw. It is possible for the Saudis to finish in 3rd with a draw. If they don't want to risk finishing 3rd then they might have to push the game more and not sit back. The US can afford to sit back more because the draw is more favorable for us. This could effect how the game is played for both teams.... But the US could be content to have the ball and just knock it around in their own end.