Under 20 World Cup

LOL!!! There is a reason why I got a Yogi quote for my signature HD

 

The Kids move on!!!! 1-0 as Rubin scored the goal and Steffen with a late PK save. Congrats to Coach Ramos, the staff, and especially the squad. Enjoy it for the day, then turn the page and get ready for the quarterfinals!!

 

Just saw the highlights from last night (early this morning). Great goal from Rubin, great save from Steffen. Seems like we were well outplayed, but were able to sneak through. Bring on Serbia!

 

Survive and advance. A great result if not the prettiest of performances.

 

Here is the link to highlights. Looks like Emerson was key on setting up the goal. Red card came in the 83'rd minute. Nice job hanging on.

 

That was a horrible penalty by Acosta. Seriously, you're in the box with both arms wrapped around the opponent? Thank goodness Steffen bailed him out.

I was also impressed that Rubin continued the play instead of appealing for a penalty.

 

About to kick off against a very good Serbian team. Need their best match of the tourney to advance.

 

SCJ, thank you for the reminder.

 

US loses to Serbia in a shoot-out (6-5 on 18 shots). Looked like a great match based on these highlights.

 

Watched most of it live last night, finished watching it this morning. Great game, but in the end our penalty taking was really poor. Steffan saved us a couple times with big saves in the shootout, but it wasn't enough. It's disappointing because I think this team had the talent to beat Mali and make a World Cup final.

 

A penalty shoot-out that had to be seen to be believed. Can we please dispense with the goofy run-ups (both missed badly) meant to fake out the GK?

Hats off to our boys for a great showing and the heart they displayed. Both teams had their chances throughout the 90, and not sure how the Serbian kid missed in the first extra time. On the first set piece of the match I didn't think it'd be possible for the U.S. to holdout because of the Serbian height advantage.

 

That was a heartbreaker. Though, penalties were poorly taken by the US and the GK did really well to save the US's bacon a couple of times. I was beginning to doze off around PK #16...
Serbia had some big boys on the pitch last night, and the US couldn't match the size / strength for the long stretch of the second half and extra time that I watched. Hyndman took his penalty well. But I agree with the comments above re the 'run up' to a PK - just place the damn ball (easier said than done, but still).

 

I stayed up to watch the whole thing. We definitely looked the smaller and weaker team. Still, just a couple of better taken penalties and we would have been through. I wonder if Joel Sonora ever practices hitting the upper 90, because he couldn't have aimed for that corner any better. The problem is that he needed to be aiming inside the posts.