U20s vs. Morocco, Oct. 12, 2025 (Pre-/PBP/Post-Match Thread)

The thing that has me thinking we can take it is the reality that we beat them recently 4-1, and tied them 0-0. I wish I knew if it involved largely these same rosters, probably not hard to figure out but I'm too lazy and making Beef Tagine (probably not thematically the best dish to make for dinner before we play Morocco).

William Hill agrees as I mentioned elsewhere, the US is basically +100 to win, Morocco is +240, a draw is +210.

I'm shocked at those odds, if you'd asked me going in, I probably would have gone with:

Morocco -110
USA +220
ML +180

or something like that, it's the opposite of what I expected. Not sure what to think of it.

 

Especially after what has gone down over the past 20+ years of heartbreaking exits. It would be nice to close the book on that story and write a new one like at the Confed Cup in '09, where we had a truly special win and performance down the stretch, and nearly our first real, legit, international trophy.

What is interesting is how this thing is shaping up: it certainly superficially looks like the QF would be much more difficult than the SF. Otoh, we all know how 2007 played out.

 

No doubt, if you watch our performances 2005-2013, it just doesn't look like this, even the fantastic '07 team and performance was largely the product of a really strong handful of players, and enough adequate to hold together the rest (from memory, the strong performers to me were Seitz, Bradley, Adu, Altidore, Szetela, Arguez, and to a lesser extent, Robbie Rodgers, a big moment here or there from Akpan, Zizzo and Wallace).

the way our '19, and '25 squads in particular have been able to play has been special, '23 was good, especially considering the ingredients, but '19 and '25 were just orders of magnitude better than anything else I've seen.

 

4:1 were our starters with Kochen in goal, but without Cremaschi. If we had both of them our odds today would be even better. I'm not buying greatness of Morocan team, the favourites are on the other side of the bracket.

 

There could be a lot of US money and they need to invite Morocco money.

 

Will we make it to the mythical 6th game?

 

Not just the players, but weekend warriors like myself who currently play with one of Landon's u-17 teammates! The thrill is real!

 

I really think the 2007 case a different one.

That team put EVERYTHING into the quarterfinal against Uruguay. EVERYTHING. They had nothing left in the tank for Austria. We sort of knew it at the time. The writing was on the wall. It was a semi-obvious banana peel game. That level was needed against Uruguay. That was one helluva physical battle. My favorite U20 game of all time.

This 2025 team should be in a much better place against Morocco.

But you never know. That 2007 Austria team was stacked with guys who went on to long and lucrative careers. They weren't chopped liver. There was a reason they were in the quarterfinal too.

10 years later we can look back at these things and say "Actually, that Morocco team WAS more talented than the Italy team the 2025 group beat in the Round of 16." There are high profile UYSNT wins like that.

 

Looking for some analytical opinions regarding the tactics so far.

What have the tactics been?

It seems they may have reverted to the old USA tactics of run, run, run, fight, fight, fight, and try to make a move and score when you can.

While these tactics have had some success in the past, they have not yet led to a WC championship at any level.

 

Like any other tactics have.

 

so Cremaschi and Tsakris did not play together against Morocco at all?

 

True. But, looking for a bit more in depth and verbose analysis. Something to help fill the time until the game!

 

Wheres the handy list of what teams and level each Moroccan player plays with/at

 

he's been really bad. I was kind of shocked that this was the guy at BVB.

 

and how much did Mexico winning a youth WC move the needle for their senior teams?

 

PSA the game will be simulcast on FS2 as well, not just Fox Soccer Plus anymore

 

And Peacock has it in Spanish.

 

Hopefully someone more tactically astute, or at least with a better soccer vocabulary than I have can chime in, but honestly it doesn't really feel like we've seen much tactically beyond pure pragmatism. New Caledonia was..., France we realistically only needed a draw and didn't play conservatively, per se, but definitely weren't aggressive either. South Africa we were very disjointed -- it was a meaningless game and the lineup was clearly chosen purely to rest guys. Italy we scored an early goal and then played about like we did against France. Took the chances we were given and nothing more. I think the biggest thing is this team has real experiences pros who can do what the game state requires in a tournament like this.

 

Let's go team!

 

Tv for this one?

 

Looks like same squad that beat Morocco 4-1 except Benja instead of Zambrano and Beaudry instead Kochen who isn’t here.

 

shocked?

they mustered 2 shots on goal vs korea....they aint some kinda juggernaut

the team that waxed france and italy should be favored over morrocco

 

Or exactly the same as against Italy with Corcoran instead of Habroune.

 

surprised by this....thought habroune playd well vs italy and havent seen anything noteworthty from corcoran