The US Under-20 team, in Egypt for the U-20 World Cup, went down to South Korea today 3-0. The Americans never really threatened their opponents, and while they maintained possession for decent stretches of the match, had nothing to scare the Koreans in the attacking third of the field.
After rebounding with a 4-1 win over Cameroon in their second group match, a win which came on the heels of a drubbing at the hands of Germany in the opener, today's result is extremely disappointing. The young Americans seemed disinterested at best, poor at worst, and were certainly not mentally prepared to proactively punch their ticket to the round of sixteen.
While there isn't as much quality in the US team as in year's past, the talent on the field could hardly be called incapable. The problems, beginning with a toothless attack that seemed lost for ideas in the Korean's end of the field, were overwhelming. Undisciplined in almost every aspect of the game, the Americans consistently allowed South Korea to dictate play; on more than one occasion, US players responded hesitantly to Korean moves forward, resulting in defenders scrambling back to recover.
The Koreans quickness appeared to be too much for the Americans, though I'm not entirely convinced it should have been. How much of the sloppiness that the US exhibited is on the players and how much should be laid directly at the feet of Thomas Rongen is debatable; but the Americans showed against Cameroon that when properly motivated and organized, they could play well enough to give themselves a chance to win. They just didn't do so against South Korea, despite the match being "must-win" for them to advance (as of this writing, they still have an extreme outside shot to advance as a third place team, but it's slim).
I honestly wasn't sure of what to make of this team headed into the tournament. Perhaps, like many, I was hopeful that the players I knew would lead the team while a few I didn't would emerge as solid contributors. Still, to say we're disappointed might be a bit of an overstatement. if you're intimately familiar with the players that Thomas Rongen had at his disposal and you believe this team underachieved, I certainly can't argue with you; but I didn't see enough there to truly believe that the US could threaten anything more than a decent showing. Of course, after the streak of knockout round qualification that the US has put together in this tournament over the years, we at the least expected to get out of the group.
That possibility still exists, if just barely, but it's not the kind of advancement that would fill us with pride. The Americans, if they do slip through, don't truly deserve to be beyond the group stages. Ultimately, despite the poor play that plagued the Americans against Germany and South Korea, Rongen must get some of the blame. Getting beaten by a clearly superior opponent is one thing; but since the Koreans, and possibly the weakened Germans, were not well beyond the US, tactics and direction are at the top of the list for reasons the Americans find themselves where they do.
Overreacting to this setback, two years after the US had a strong showing in the same tournament, by deriding the American youth program as failing would be ridiculous. The United States has still not progressed to the point of producing strong under-20 players cycle after cycle (whether or not we should have by now is a different argument); while 2009 is a setback, the US could just as easily take a massive step forward in 2011.
If you watched the game today, share your thoughts. Who do you blame the poor tournament on? Rogren, the players, or the system in general?
