PBP: 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup: USA vs. Colombia, 6/10 3:30 AM EST

On the issue of subbing out Arriola instead of Allen, Allen actually performed the role fine from that point on and the decision worked out. We would have wanted Arriola if Colombia had gotten an equalizer, but instead we held on and he was protected from the possibility of getting another card. Allen actually did end up getting a card in the 86th minute. Risky decision, but it worked out, so it's hard to be too critical.

 

He is not really a forward, though he may have played there earlier in his development. He has been excellent on the left side of RSL's diamond.

 

Wouldn't be their first. Lost to Nigeria in the 1/8 final in 2005.

 

Great win tonight. Love the irony, the US and Ukraine played last week for the "easier opponent" and we're off to the quarters, they're not

 

Fair enough. Didn't help us much today though. That's all I'm saying.

 

So @beerslinger23 ... How important was getting first place in our group? Just wondering, not picking a fight.

 

It's not the only one. Look at Uruguay and Mali. They had to do a coin toss for second or third and I don't think Mali is really regretting being third.

These tournaments are just too haphazard. It's impossible to figure out which spot will do best for you unless you happen to be in Group F.

 

We have three problems.

1) We're short.
2) Our keeper can't hit a forward with a long ball.
2) Our backline and DM can't pass consistently through the midfield and tend to boot it upfield.

Unfortunately, these all play into each other. In the second half, when we played it through midfield more, we looked better. Of course, the goal came off a long ball of some sort. Like the one time we actually won a header. Go figure.

 

BTW what exactly do you mean by this?

 

More than short, we just don't keep the ball as well. The Colombians had the ball glued to their feet and were better at penetrating runs through traffic. Only Zelalem was able to do that on our side. Rubin had trouble with that.

 

I see a lot of praise for Steffen and the center backs. And they deserve a lot defensively. As good as they were defensively, they all need to get a lot better at distribution. Good talent there, though.

Payne was a delight.

Praise to all the players for hard work and gutting out a win in a scrappy game.

 

I think Senegal would have blasted us into space. In retrospect it worked out but no one saw this coming.

 

I like my membership on BS so I'll let you take three guesses.

 

Acosta had every right to be incensed. If the Colombian player is allowed hand-to-hand combat to turn Acosta in the first place, then the ref shouldn't be blowing his whistle when Acosta reciprocates to get back goal-side. For me that's an offensive foul every day of the week and twice on Sundays...

 

I think he's basing this off of past infractions by SOME Ukrainian fans in regards to blatant racism going back to the 2012 Euros and other competitions. But I'm not terribly fond of the idea to paint the Ukraine nation with a broad "racist" brush like that. That in itself is racist.

 

The number of times Colombia players, especially the midfielders, simply out-bodied our midfielders and turned around them on the dribble while ball protecting was truly astonishing. I have never seen anywhere near that many in a game. Like hot knives through butter and something that really needs fixing. The good news was that the tactic did not work against the US defenders.

 

I think thats going to continue to be an issue until Soccer becomes TRULY popular in the US and there's a few world respected stars from the US. The athletic talent pool of soccer athletes will always play second fiddle to American Football, Baseball, and Basketball.

Could you imagine the talent pool if someone in the mold like JJ Watt and Lebron James were your two centerbacks? you have midfielders like Lesean Mccoy and Adrian Peterson? You could have a target striker Rob Gronkowski and a poacher like Odell Beckham Jr.?

US soccer talent pool is much thinner smaller. guys like Dempsey are the exception, not the rule.

 

Thought our guys physically held their own against Colombia tbh. They especially did a great sticking Colombian attackers who managed to make into the attacking third. US possession was 40% but there were plenty of attacking forays into the Colombian defensive third.

 

There's also been a cultural shift amongst USYNT staffs toward the smaller, technically superior players in the pool over players with great physical attributes.

If the US U20s wanted to pick a team to out-muscle opponents, the staff could have picked a squad to do that. We do have big, target strikers in the pool. We do have more defensive-oriented midfield destroyers, particularly in the NCAAs. But they're trying to pick the technically and tactically superior players with the idea that they'll be the better adult professionals in five years.

[In fact the top three players available for the team but not selected were probably Roldan, Flores, and Pfeffer. Also smaller guys. Novakovich would have been selected if available. He's a big boy.]

Now one can obviously note that these players at the top of the US pool in terms of technical and tactical ability can't match those produced by other elite nations yet. And that's true. Colombia, it should be pointed out, is currently 4th in the senior FIFA rankings. We're playing nations at this point in tournaments that have great players in their pipelines as well.

I don't think we should underestimate the quality of this win. Colombia finished second in CONMEBOL qualifying, ahead of Brazil and Uruguay. We can do an autopsy of this game and analyze everything ad naseum, but it was a high-quality win against a really good opponent.

If we make a list of the best US U20 results of all-time, this one is in the top 10.

 

1) We are physically outmatched against any moderate sized team it seams. Need to try some different set piece ideas.
2) Delgado is not a #6 and is a liability right now. He doesn't offer a ton defensively and does not connect well with Hyndman and Zelalem.
3) Rubin is the real deal. That was a pure striker goal. Reminds me of RvP. Will get nothing the entire game and then boom....upper 90.
4) Steffan is getting better each game. This was a real solid performance by him with the big pk save.
5) This referee was almost as bad as the last game.
6) Looks like we got some longer studs for this game which was nice to see. Not as much slipping.
7) Acosta's red card might be a blessing in disguise. The left side is our weak link defensively.
8) Arriola needs to get some time with the big boys. He is really really good.
9) Whenever anyone tries to play a long ball out of the back it is horrible. Just pass to Hyndman and Zelalem at all costs.

 

Has Soñora featured in any games since our opener against Myanmar?

 

this team looks a lot better quick if you find even a serviceable upgrade to delgado. canouse injury looming large.

 

If we were going to write a list of disappointments so far, Soñora would top the list for me.

Based on reporting we'd gotten, Soñora won this roster spot over the likes of Flores and Roldan due to having some really strong camps and games down the stretch. But he's essentially been a non-factor. Part of that is that guys like Arriola have stepped up, which is a good thing.

Arriola's situation at Tijuana is really confusing. I actually didn't have him in my predicted lineup (as I had Flores). A nice surprise from him so far. I can't see how he's fallen out of favor at Tijuana while playing at this level. Of course, Tijuana changes coaches every other year. So whatever momentum a young player gains with a coach is lost pretty quickly.

 

Yes, second half against Ukraine, which Tab (misguidedly) tried Hyndman as a solo dmid.

 

In all fairness though, Colombia's pressure in the midfield was really excellent. They may have been horrible at finishing in the final third, but that team did a heck of a lot of other things right. The only problem is that finishing in the final third is kind of important if you need to get a result. I wouldn't be too harsh about the US struggling to work the ball through the midfield though. Columbia really committed to making sure that wasn't going to happen and they were willing to foul or do whatever it took to make sure that it didn't. That is going to happen sometimes.

On a related note, I think that it is excellent for Zelalem to be a part of this group. For whatever shortcomings this group has, it showed a lot of mental toughness today. That, more than his physical toughness (which I think is adequate), is what sometimes concerns me about Zelalem. But he seemed to really buy in to being a part of the group and looked like he was enjoying himself despite the fact that the other teams' game plan was to make it impossible to play through the midfield. THAT was what I found exciting about the game. A mentally tough Zelalem is much, much, much more important than a physically tough Zelalem. The kid is smart enough to outsmart people. He doesn't have to out physical them. What he does need to be though, is a kid that never quits no matter how hard things are. This game was very encouraging from that perspective. He is not the final product, as many have already noted, but this was a good experience for him. I wasn't as sure after the Ukraine match.