The penalty kick shootout might not be the best way to end a football match but it is certainly effective in providing a winner. After nine rounds on a rainy Sunday evening in Auckland, New Zealand there was finally a winner between the United States under-20 Men’s National Team and Serbia. Unfortunately for the USMNT supporters who stayed up until the wee hours of the morning it was not Tab Ramos’ side. After failing to convert on three penalty kicks, the United States is out of the 2015 U-20 World Cup.

U.S. goalkeeper Zach Steffen did his best to keep his squad in the match, making two quality saves to continue the penalty kick shootout. But a miss by U.S. center-back Cameron Carter-Vickers and a save by Serbian goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic on U.S. defender John Requejo gave the European side the advantage. Serbian midfielder Nemanja Maksimovic would hit the game-winner sealing a date in the semi-finals against Mali, who beat Germany  earlier in the day.

Penalties were a necessity to determine after strong defensive stands by both teams. On the Serbian side of the pitch, coach Veljko Panuovic used their advantage in terms of size and strength to force the smaller U.S. attack to the periphery of the pitch. U.S. forward Tommy Thompson had a couple of decent opportunities on goal, including a left-footed attempt on a counter-attack that he could not place on target. Without Bradford Jamieson IV, who had left the previous match against Colombia due to a head injury, the U.S. lacked a strong a center-forward to contend against a stout Serbian defense.

The U.S. attack was also hindered due to a thin bench. Without Jamieson IV and Maki Tall, as well as Kellyn Acosta (who was serving a suspension) Ramos had very few options to go to late in the match. Tired legs led to few opportunities late.

Despite these deficiencies, the U.S. did take one of the top youth teams to the limit on Sunday night primarily due to their defense. The back four of  Requejo, Desevio Payne, Matt Miazga, and Cameron Carter-Vickers held back a very difficult Serbian attack. Carter-Vickers and Miazga helped Steffen keep the result even in the second half when the Freiburg keeper had to leave his comfort area to make a punch save. On the ensuing rebound, Carter-Vickers would make the decisive clear.

With the U-20 World Cup now over for the United States all eyes are now on qualification for the 2016 Olympics. Although that is a U-23 tournament and not every player from this group will make it on that roster there will be some overlap. What will be interesting to see is how those player learn and adapt from this experience and help that squad try and make the Olympics for the first time since 2008.

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