Winning ugly is better than looking great in defeat. Although the United States under-20 Men’s National Team did not have a performance that will be talked about for ages, it was enough. The U.S. U-20’s were able to stave off elimination in the CONCACAF U-20 Championships by defeating Trinidad and Tobago 1-0 at Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Much like in their victories against Aruba and Jamaica, U.S. u-20 coach Tab Ramos opted to use a 4-4-2 against the Soca Warriors. As with the previous two matches, Romain Gall was the early beneficiary of this style of play. In the 6th, he delivered the game’s first goal-scoring opportunity a strike that went just wide of the goal.
Trinidad would respond with their own opportunity just 4 minutes later when forward Akim Andrews surged past the US defense and looked to have a dangerous opportunity. But he was unable to connect with any of his teammates as the U.S. defense shut down his targets. This has been a pattern of the U.S. at the CONCACAF U-20 Championships having only allowed 8 shots during the entire tournament.
After trying to work the inside of the Trinidad defense early on, the U.S. began to move outside with the hopes of cracking the stout defense. Left Juan Requejo hit a timely cross in the 18th minute that appeared to hit the hand of T and T midfielder Neveal Hackshaw but no call was made. Requejo would set up another chance in the 29th minute to Gall whose shot at the top of the penalty area went wide.
While Requejo was working the left side of the pitch, right-back Shaquell Moore was working the right. Just before the half he made an excellent run into the T and T box and hit a shot that looked promising, but was just wide.
Although the United States was applying consistent pressure throughout the match, the Soca Warriors nearly scored the game’s first goal. In the 74th minute defender Leland Archer would hit a curving shot with the inside of his left foot that had every U.S. supporter thinking elimination. But United States goalkeeper Zach Steffen calmly snared the shot and ended the threat. Trinidad would use their speed all throughout the second half and causing the U.S. defense problems at least maintaining the 0-0 draw.
Despite Trinidad looking like the more imposing squad in the second half, they would leave themselves open for the counter-attack, something that the United States would exploit. Substitutes Paul Arriola and Junior Flores would use their fresh legs to jump-start the attack, flying down the pitch against an unsuspecting defense. Flores would hit a pass to the outside to midfielder Tommy Thompson whose cross into the box would be finished by Bradford Jamieson IV.
With the victory, the United States moves on to the playoff round of the CONCACAF U-20 Championships. Although they have once again fallen short of winning the CONCACAF U-20 title for the first time, they can still qualify for the 2015 U-20 World Cup. On Saturday, they will face a team to be determined for one of the four spots allocated to CONCACAF.
