PBP: 2022 CONCACAF U-20 Championships, Round of 16: USA vs. Nicaragua, 6/25 @ 8:30 PM ET

Wiley and Paredes in '23 are a fun candidate pair to improve the squad. (Assuming, of course, the team qualifies.) Not sure who you put in on the right.

 

Alvarado has gotten hammered since he has come in.

 

These kids sure can strike a ball pure.

 

This could easily be 10-0

 

Paxten Aaronson is a PROBLEM. He started slow this tournament, but this kid can play.

 

I’m falling in love with this kid. Euro scouts must love him. He already does so many of the things they look for.

 

Neal. 5-0.

 

He has quality, but a bit of wild with his play. You can see he has the same motor as his brother. He just needs to harness his qualities to reach the next level.

 

It‘s easier to slow a player down and almost impossible to speed them up.

Pax will be fine.

 

I've only watched this cohort in this tournament, but so far, I'm most impressed by Luna and the Philly guys. I try not to get too hyped up about any prospect until I see them look good against adults at a decent level (MLS or above), but I'll tuning in to more Philly and RSL games to watch them going forward.

I feel like there isn't much basis for judging the defenders or keepers at this point. Presumably, they'll be tested more in the next round or two.

 

5-0 FT. Costa Rica will be a much tougher opponent.

 

8-0 would have been more indicative of the play but really doesn‘t matter.

On to a disciplined, savvy, sound team.

How do I know? It‘s CR. That‘s how all their teams play.

 

If the USA defeats CR, then the US qualifies for the U20 World Cup, right?

If the USA defeats CR and then Honduras, the Olympics?

 

I agree on MOTM and I don’t even think it was close. The game just seems a lot slower for him and he has the technical skills and creativity of someone much older

 

Yes

 

Yup.

 

Jinx. You owe me a coke.

 

Oh yeah. All of the posters unimpressed with Wolf.

I get it.

 

30 shots, 5 goals, can't really complain too much. That goes for pretty much every game so far, even the Canada one. I'm guessing Costa Rica are at least decent and will be the first real test?

Sorry I didn't see this sooner.

I can only speak for the VIX app on iPhone but here's how I found it:
Go to the third section at the bottom, "Deportes"
Under "En Vivo" (which should be at the top, I didn't have to scroll down) it should list Estados Unidos vs Nicaragua"

Hopefully that will be useful for someone for the next game...

 

It's funny you just wrote this because watching this one I decided to declare him to be third on the depth chart for the Darlington Nagbe memorial shuttler 8 position with these performances...
1. Musah
2. LDLT
3. Luna

 

We should beat Costa Rica 3-0

 

I don't want to jinx anything, but while there are some guys who haven't really stood out, it feels like the overall floor is higher than it has been in the past. No Javan Torre types where you wonder if they'll have a professional future.
There are some guys you would worry about above Concacaf level, but then we have plenty of potential reinforcements...

 

I want to believe this but tbh have no clue about the quality of CR’s u20 team. Does anyone have insight about them? They beat T&T badly in the R16 but there too not sure what weight to put on that outcome. Generally CR has skilled and organized teams at every level so I assume itlll be a tough matchup.

 

I assume it will be a tough matchup as well. Going to need to finish and defend better because I assume we won’t get as many chances and CR will create their own. I think the level of talent on O is pretty legit. Pax, Luna and Sullivan have been consistently good and if Cowell decides to share he can be dangerous as well. But our CBs have not looked all that great at times and Cuevas is the only back that flashes plus. In short, I think we are talented enough to win out but I am still nervous that the ball will bounce against us and we will lose a heartbreaker.

 

They’ve sucked at this level since building that golden generation of Brazil/Russia/Qatar. Back then when those guys were teens they made final four finishes 3 cycles in a row w/a title and runner up mixed in. The following four tourneys they made the final four only once and it was when they hosted. In this group stage they tied Jamaica, beat Antigua and lost 0-1 to Honduras. I suspect they’re better than all the teams we’ve played so far but we should beat them, if we can’t we shouldn’t qualify for the u20s anyway.