The US U-20s lost their first game at the Poland 2019 World Cup. USA fell to Ukraine 2-1 in a thrilling game.
Match Recap
The US U-20s, and the Ukraine U-20s put on an exciting game a back and forth football in their opening Group D match. Here’s a look at how it all went down!
US Lineup
Starters and used subs: Brady Scott; Sergino Dest, Chris Richards, Aboubacar Keita, Christopher Gloster (Matt Real, 69); Brandon Servania (Sebastian Soto, 66), Chris Durkin, Paxton Pomykal (capt.); Konrad De la Fuente (Justin Rennicks, 84), Tim Weah, Alex Mendez
Subs not used: Mark McKenzie, Julian Araujo, David Ochoa, Edwin Cerrillo, Ulysses Llanez, Richard Ledezma, CJ Dos Santos
Head Coach: Tab Ramos
The US-U20 rolled out a 4-3-3 lineup as they would try to break down a strongly organized Ukrainian side. The first half were full of fireworks
1st half:
The Ukraine were the first ones on the board in the 26th minute of the match. A nice spout of possession was capped off with a perfect ball played over the US defense by Heorhii Tsitaishvili. The ball was played to the stride of Serhii Buletsa who used his first touch to fire a shot past USA keeper Brady Scott. The US U-20’s were on their heels but were determined to go level before half time.
In the 32nd minute the US made the most of their overwhelming possession game. The US put seven perfect passes together to get their equalizer. They moved their way into the Ukrainian penalty area Sergio Dest found the run of Tim Weah making a run on the left side of the box. Weah saw the run of Brandon Servania in the middle of the box; Weah picked the perfect pass and Servania one-timed it home to draw the game level.
In the second half, Ukraine would make the most of their chances, and the US were left wanting
2nd half:
In the 51st minute the US conceded a corner. Serhii Buletsa put in a great just outside of the six yard box, and Denys Popov rose above the US defenders to flick home the ball past Scott. Ukraine had the 2-1 lead, and kept it the rest of the game, but not for lack of trying by the US.
The US pushed forward the rest of the game, with Tab Ramos using offensive minded subs to look for the equalizer. The Ukraine put men behind the ball and were physical with a US side who looked to finesse their way through the lines. In the end the physically strong and organized Ukraine side took all three points.
The US will look to get their first points o fthe U-20 World Cup in their next game on Monday against Nigeria!
Highlights:
Group standings:
The US U-20s now have some ground to cover in their next two games. They take on a Nigeria side that’s top of the group on Monday. Nigeria thrashed Qatar 4-0 in their first game, and while the African side has been inconsistant leading up to the World Cup, they look poised to put those issues behind them. The US will finish their group D games against Qatar, who are had the worst possible start to their U-20 World Cup campaign, they could be eliminated from the tournament with a loss to Ukraine on Monday.
The US will need to be on their A game moving forward, which coach Tab Ramos thinks is a strong possibility.
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Matt McClain
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Mandatory Credit: Getty Images
