U20s blow out SK&N 4-1 in CONCACAF

U20s blow out SK&N 4-1 in CONCACAF
by Will Parchman
February 24, 2017

Expected or not, the U.S. U20 MNT shot into the final group stage of the 2017 CONCACAF Championship with a resounding if imperfect blowout on Friday.

Behind a pair of goals from Real Salt Lake Homegrown Sebastian Saucedo, the U.S. trounced hapless St. Kitts & Nevis 4-1 to polish off its up-and-down group phase with six points from three games.  NYCFC draftee Jonathan Lewis added to his strong tournament showing with the U.S.’s second, while Brooks Lennon tapped in a well-worked cross from Jeremy Ebobisse to open the deluge early in the first half.

The only moment of St. Kitts & Nevis danger occurred in a bubble thanks to a mishap at the back with about 10 minutes to go and the game already decided. A flubbed Justen Glad back pass to keeper JT Marcinkowski led in Romario Martin to a breakaway, and Martin beat Marcinkowski to what ultimately turned into a tap-in. It was the only shot on goal from St. Kitts & Nevis.

Panama won the group earlier in the day with a blowout win over nine-man Haiti to give them three wins in three, relegating the U.S. to second place in the group. Each of the top two progress to the final group stage, a three-team grouping in which the top two qualify for the U20 World Cup later this year. The U.S.’s loss to Panama gave them the tougher road, pairing them up with regional giant Mexico and likely El Salvador, based on results still to come on Saturday.

Still, if the goal was ultimately to progress to the World Cup, the U.S. is halfway there. And it’ll probably hinge on a game against El Salvador (the other eventuality is host Costa Rica) to take it the rest of the way.

They assured themselves of the spot Friday with a rip-roaring display boosted by twin engines from RSL in Saucedo and Lennon.

U.S. coach Tab Ramos made a few tweaks to his lineup from the 4-1 win over Haiti three days earlier. He dropped keeper Jonathan Klinsmann for Georgetown rising junior JT Marcinkowski, who wasn’t forced to make a save all evening. He replaced right back Marlon Fossey with RSL fullback Aaron Herrera (he came out in the first half for Fossey due to injury). And he pulled midfielder Luca de la Torre to start Maryland’s Eryk Williamson in the shuttling role between defensive midfielder Erik Palmer-Brown and Saucedo underneath lone forward Jeremy Ebobisse.

Williamson continued the struggles experienced by both No. 8s in this tournament so far, but the other moves were prescient. That includes NYCFC left winger Jonathan Lewis, who came on against Haiti and has been the Americans’ best player over the breadth of their last two blowout wins. Saucedo also enjoyed a breakout performance as the primary creative engine and blew open a number of passing lanes.

The U.S. largely kept its shape in the 4-3-3 and dominated the run of play throughout. St. Kitts & Nevis generated almost nothing of note going forward and the U.S. rolled in with dangerous attack after attack before easing off the accelerator with a cushy 4-0 lead in the second half. The U.S. more or less had its pick of attacking angles, from the flanks via Lewis and Lennon - Fossey was a particular handful on the overlap - or up the gut through Saucedo’s danger. St. Kitts & Nevis was largely powerless to stop either.

The U.S.’s first came via Lennon, but Ebobisse did the most difficult of the spadework. His quick burst into space took him to the touch line inside the box, giving him space to center for Lennon’s open tap-in. Lewis added the second not long thereafter following a scramble in the box, and Saucedo tacked on the next two. The first came off a ground-skimming sidewinder from 20 yards out that twisted from right to left midair and bamboozled the keeper on what should’ve been an otherwise easy save. His second curled into the right corner off a well-struck free kick. That staked the U.S. to a 4-0 lead into the half both teams seemed content to sit on.

The game itself was an anticlimactic end to a choppy group phase for the U.S. that nonetheless ended strong. The U.S. went through its first 120 minutes of this tournament without scoring, and was at one point a loss in the hole and trailing 1-0 to Haiti. The U.S. responded by scoring eight unanswered goals over the next three and a half halves of soccer to coast into the final stage despite a slow start.

Uncertainty awaits the Americans in the next round. Mexico will be a bear, as always, but even if the Mexicans sweep their matches in the group, the U.S. merely needs to beat its other opponent - again, probably El Salvador - to ensure safe passage. No easy task, but certainly doable. At this stage, after a group-opening loss, that’s all one can reasonably ask.

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