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

Are we the favorites or?

 

I think it would be a huge mistake to underrate this Colombia U20 side. Restrepo (Coach) is a very unliked coach in Colombia by most supporters BUT he delivers results with his 'anti'futbol. He won the South American U20 championship for 2013 and came in 2nd (behind Argentina) for this WC edition. He's ultra conservative and tends to play key players in off roles. But several players in the squad have international experience, great technical skill and fast. While not as big as the Ukranians, they were one of the biggest (physically) U20 sides in Conmebol. They are solid in most of their lines (MF and Defense/GK) but as noted before, have been just terrible with their finishing. Also struggle with set pieces.

Guys to watch out for :
Zapata (MF (pass belongs to Udinese) - every ball goes thru him)
Joao R (FW (pass belongs to Chelsea) - great skill with the ball but is a ball hog and not so great finishing)
Borre (ST (kind of small for a ST) - very similar attributes to Kun Aguero - fast to the ball and can make something out of nothing. He was the main striker for 1st team and current Colombia Champions Dep. Cali and has already had senior team NT call up....great player)

 

That's all good and all but they've been struggling in this tournament and we all know what happened to Argentina. Do you expect them to finally snap out of it?

 

First goal gonna be huge

 

Having watched all those 3 matches I can tell you that it wasn't all misery. The stats against Qatar show the impotence Colombia has in front of the net. The best strategy is to play counter attacking ball as they will get a ton of touches on the ball before reaching your final 1/3 but while the defensive line is disciplined they are very flat footed. Portugal played them perfectly. They gave Colombia the possession they wanted and waited to capitalize with counterattacking and foul ball plays. They put out the high pressure only when Zapata had the ball.

 

I don't know about pretty good. Pretty good sides don't lose 3-0 to ukraine in a match where they only need a draw. We are decent. If we convincingly beat Colombia the I would say we are pretty good.

 

I feel like we played to lax vs Ukraine could be because we only needed a tie and started bench guys tho. Wondering ifif Ukraine rested any guys vs us

 

Again, this narrative is wrong. We started to press high right from the second half kickoff.


I thought last game was the best BJIV has played in the lone st position, though that is damning with faint praise.

 

All I remember from the game against Ukraine, was the US trying to create chance but Ukraine's defense was intercepting everything in in their half.

 

I think we are decent. A pretty good team would not be scared of Ukraine and we played scared. Whether Ramos chose that posture or not we looked like it going forward, backward, sideways and in the air. I will amend my opinion if we beat Colombia who are seen as an upper tier team.

 

shaq moore was horrid so if payne starts ill have confidence we wont concede more than 1 goal

 

Coach always risks losing the continuity and timing and momentum by resting players, but the Ukraine are such a dirty team that we couldn't risk players like Payne.

Colombia is like just about every other SA team - we frustrate them by playing disciplined football, they begin to lose it mentally, then we get them on the counter, regroup, reset, refresh, do over. The actual key is to be patient and not over extend on the attack. That is playing into their hands as they want a wide open match...let's see if Tab wants to play to look pretty or play to win.

 

Can't really judge him there, it's not natural for him

 

Why can't we do both? Play pretty and win? This team can do it if they press hard, focus all 90 and are aggressive

 

We're the only team from CONCACAF that survived the group stage. Not a good showing for the region, at times we've got up to three of the four out. But last time it was only Mexico, this time it's only us.

Another confederation that is doing just as poorly is AFC, with only Uzbekistan making it. But for them it's par for the course.

It's been a very good World Cup for UEFA and CAF: they got all their team through. It's been rather bad for CONMEBOL: normally they get all their teams in, but this time they lost their regional champion just starting, and none of them is playing well.

It has been a hard pill to swallow for Mexico. This was supposed to be s solid generation, with some of the guys who got the second place in the Emirates back in 2013. For Argentina it's been brutal, since they had on paper one of the favorites to win the whole parrillada.

With those two gone, the only team from the Americas considered one of the betting favorites is Brazil. But our stock is going up.

 

I predict a fairly even game, goes 1-0 to somebody, whoever is fortunate enough to finish a chance.

 

I would say no. We have to choose and play smart. Conserve energy. Frustrate Colombia. Let them attack, prove how much better they are than the US at a technical level, then hit them on the counter.

 

We tried to bunker-counter vs Ukrain and it failed. We should

ride the horse that brought us here. This team looked best vs NZ and for passages against Myanmar so go with the press and possess game. Go down fighting.

 

Not a U-20 post, but Charlie Horton signed with Leeds apparently.

 

Or stay up by not getting hit...the US just needs to play smart, contained football with it's line-up vs. NZ and they should be fine.

It is when we get over extended, expose ourselves to the cross, Delgado forces teh CB's into bad positions...

NZ is not a very good team.