With only the group winners advancing to the semifinals, it looks like the US will be joined there by Slovenia, Japan, and Portugal. While the formatting on the tournament site is a little strange, I believe the US will play Slovenia on Sunday in Nova Gorica, Slovenia. Japan and Portugal will play their semifinal match the same day, but in Torviscosa, Italy. To win their group, Slovenia beat Mexico (2-0) and tied 0-0 with both Russia and Romania. So they haven't given up any goals in the tournament either.
Thanks tons for posting this link. I'm an old school guy with almost no interaction with newish social media. US Soccer use to list these kinds of youth games on its schedule page complete with broadcast information. It wasn't comprehensive, but it was something. Now, there's nothing. I sent them an email about this a few weeks ago with regard to a Women's youth tournament in Switzerland which mentioned a live stream in the website article, but nothing else. In addition, finding articles on the website has gotten harder. Good luck, if it isn't on the front page. I blame the format change to the emphasis on mobile with the big boxes....that decrease in usability for web based users is commonplace. Your post prompted me to look at the US Soccer twitter and YNT twitter where there is nothing about this upcoming stream.
Kind of watching over my shoulder while I make food for the baby, it seems like the U.S. has a slight athletic age (speed/quickness, though not size and not a men-among-boys edge) and is using it pretty effectively to pressure their opponents. Our play in the final third has not been particularly good though we look decent in possession. The crowd (which I can't see, so for all I know it's a few dozen parents) is for the other guys.
Very nice right-footed FK goal from USA #19 (I think) from about 20 or so. He hit the inside of the post, just beating the diving GK, with a short runup to a ball that probably looked like it was going to be taken by the lefty.
They answered quickly off a corner that went straight to a pretty tall guy waiting in the goal box. I didn't get a good look at it, and the GK did get a paw to it, but it was from close range. The ball came in fairly hot, and I'm not sure the goalie had a play to come out -- didn't see the play closely enough.
Looks like this Krenecki Cuevas-Stoup-Walls-Sorenson Casas Levya-Miscic Bohui-Toure-Freeman So far I've been impressed with almost all of the back line, Cases, Freeman and Toure. The goal was from Freeman.
After 1-1 FT, the U.S. had chances to end it in the first set of penalties, couldn't pull it off, and lost the shootout.
We lost on penalties. We were the significantly better team. Slovenia didn't even try to possess the ball, all counter-attacking. And their goal was on a corner-kick. I'm not sure they had more than 1 or 2 shots besides that. Krenecki was average, nothing great, nothing terrible. Didn't have any saves to make, and he couldn't have really stopped the goal. Cuevas was very good. He has a very good understanding of the game defensively, and can get forward. I've been impressed by him watching him multiple times now. Stoup was beat on the corner-kick for a goal, but was decent. I'm not sure if he's tall enough to play CB, but seemed to be a good ball-playing CB who defends pretty well. Walls was solid defensively, but he's kind of slow. He's also very tall, so maybe he ends up one of these tower CB's who struggles for pace, but can dominate in the air. Sorenson was very impressive. He defended well, and was pretty good going forward, even with some skill. Casas was very solid. Played as a lone 6 in front of the back 4, dropping in-between the CB's, at times. He distributed the ball where it needed to go, and did a good defensive job. Leyva played as a #8, and moved the ball around some in CM. He wasn't very involved in the game. Miscic played as a #10, and was not very involved in the game either. Bohui started out at RW, and struggled. He was subbed out at the half for Sealy who was very good. He was cutting inside on his left, and weaving through players. Very impressive. Freeman played as a LW, and was one of our best players. He showcased very good close control with his dribbling, and showed creativity. He scored a nice free-kick goal, and nearly scored from distance two other times. He strikes the ball very well. Hard to know what position he'll play at higher levels, maybe CF, maybe #10, maybe wing, but he's pretty talented. Toure played as a CF, and I was impressed. He didn't dominate, but he was playing up a year, so that should be accounted for. Slovenia could not deal with his speed, and he nearly turned their defenders 3-4 times. I thought Slovenia got bailed out on a few calls where was in on goal, and then the whistle blew. He also showcased polished hold up play, understanding of the game and dribbling.
Too bad our quality wasn't rewarded with a win. We were just tons better. Even just needing one PK to win but such is youth football. Every player looked like very good prospects. We needed to work the ball better through the final third. Needed to be more patient with our skill superiority.
Yes on May Day vs. Japan at 11:06 AM local time (5:06 AM ET/ 2:06 AM PT) although I seriously doubt there will be a stream. https://www.torneodellenazioni.com/dev/griglia/
Here are the facecrack videos of the US/Italy match: https://www.facebook.com/soccernetworkllc/videos/vb.374895205868751/1920896547935268/?type=2&theater https://www.facebook.com/soccernetworkllc/videos/vb.374895205868751/1920951504596439/?type=2&theater From reading this thread, I gather that there was a professionally produced telecast on udinese.tv of better quality than the above linked videos. So far, I haven't been able to find an archive of that video.
After watching the US vs Slovenia game and knowing Slovenia won the championship I can safely say we were the best team there. Things looking good for some of our youth. Now we need to figure out how to develop the mid to late team so they can start really contributing and starring in MLS in their late teens and early twenties.
https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/20...oncurrent-training-camps-in-bradenton-florida U.S. U-16 Boys’ National Team Roster by Position: GOALKEEPERS (5): *Mitchell Budler (Shattuck-Saint Mary's; Lincoln, Neb.), *Andrew Cordes (Colorado Rapids; Denver, Colo.), Eliot Jones (New England Revolution; New Britain, Conn.), Gavin Krenecki (Sacramento Republic FC; Fair Oaks, Calif.) DEFENDERS (10): Adrian Aguilar (LA Galaxy; Los Angeles, Calif.), Mauricio Cuevas (LA Galaxy; Los Angeles, Calif.), *Mitchell Ferguson (Sporting Kansas City; Glen Carbon, Ill.), *Michael Lenis (Sporting Kansas City; Weston, Fla.), *Yahir Lopez (Phoenix Rising FC; Chandler, Ariz.), *Kayden Pierre (Sporting Kansas City; Rochester Hills, Mich.), *Mario Sanchez (Proyecto Elite; El Paso, Texas), Anton Sorenson (Crew SC Academy Wolves; Ann Arbor, Mich.), Kobey Stoup (Atlanta United FC; Montgomery, Ala.), Casey Walls (San Jose Earthquakes; Mill Valley, Calif.) MIDFIELDERS (8): *Paxten Aaronson (Philadelphia Union; Medford, N.J.), Javier Casas Jr. (Chicago Fire; Addison, Ill.), Daniel Leyva (Seattle Sounders FC; Seattle, Wash.), Jack McGlynn (BW Gottschee; Middle Village, N.Y.), Selmir Miscic (Philadelphia Union; Royersford, Pa.) *Moses Nyemen (D.C. United; Riverdale, Md.), *Nicolas Pereira (Weston FC; Doral, Fla.), Edwin Villarreal (FC Dallas; El Paso, Texas) FORWARDS (8): Patrick Bohui (Philadelphia Union; Philadelphia, Penn.); Andres Cardenas (Weston FC; Doral, Fla.), *Brian Gutierrez (Chicago Fire; Burbank, Ill.), Alex Monis (Chicago Fire; Naperville, Ill.), *Francesco Pagano (Empire United; Manlius, N.Y.), *Ivan Pino (Tuzos Soccer Club; Phoenix, Ariz.), Dante Sealy (FC Dallas; Frisco, Texas), Dantouma Toure (PDA; Trenton, N.J.) The prominent new callup, of course, is Nyeman.
I wish there was a game and we could watch it. It’d be nice to see him in action. Still, it’s nice to see him able to get called in