U.S. under-20 men

Two faces of Americans visible in victory over Paraguay.

By Robert Wagman
SoccerTimes

(Saturday, November 29, 2003) -- Two seemingly different squads of United States under-20 men showed up today to play Paraguay in the opening Group F match of the World Youth Championships at Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

The U.S. in the first half was tentative, bumbling and generally inept as it fell behind 1-0. The same group of players dominated the second half, scored three unanswered goals and cruised to a 3-1 win.

Two players exemplified the sort of Jekyll-and-Hyde aspect of this match -- forward Eddie Johnson and goalkeeper Steve Cronin. Johnson did little or nothing through the first 45 minutes. Cronin gave away an early free kick and failed to properly organize his wall, leaving the left corner uncovered, allowing Julio Dos Santos to score on the ensuing free kick from 19 yards in the fifth minute.

But in the second half, Johnson evened the score with a diving header and hammered a shot that resulted in a rebound that led to the U.S. taking a 2-1 lead. Cronin, meanwhile, stretched full-length to deny Paraguay a goal four minutes into the second half that would have meant a two-goal lead and well could have put the match out of reach.

Paraguay controlled much of the first half in the midfield. After conceding the opening goal after Cronin totaled Nelson Haedo Valdez -- risking a red card, receiving a yellow -- in a race to a long ball, the U.S. struggled to get its attack into gear and conceded possession for long stretches. Paraguay seemed content to put numbers of defenders behind the ball and the Americans could develop little. Probably, the only consistently good player for the U.S. over the first 45 minutes was midfielder Bobby Convey.

The second half started differently. After Cronin dove full length to deny Edgar Barreto in the 49th minute, the U.S. began to get better control of the midfield. Santino Quaranta swapped with his former D.C. United teammate Justin Mapp from the right to left midfield flank and, in the 53rd minute, sent a perfect cross that found the head of a diving Johnson who redeemed himself for a lacking first half with the tying goal.

The goal opened up the match and Johnson again was able to take advantage. Taking a Mapp pass, Johnson drove in from the right side where he hammered a hard shot at Paraguayan keeper Anthony Silva from a sharp angle. Silva pushed a rebound directly into the path forward Mike Magee who put it into the open net to take the 2-1 lead.

Convey closed out the scoring with the kind of individual effort fans of D.C. United and the U.S. senior national team have been waiting to see. He moved the ball across the top of the box from right to left, beat three defenders and rocketed a left-footed blast into the top left corner out of Silva's reach.

At halftime, the U.S. seemed destined for an early flight home since a loss today would have made emerging from group play extremely difficult. The U.S. defense did well over the opening 45 minutes, but the midfield was badly outplayed and could not hold the ball as Paraguay applied steady defensive pressure. Once the U.S. drew level, Paraguay was forced to try to push forward, opening space for the U.S. to take advantage of.

"We haven't played together for a while, so it took us a bit to settle into our flow," U.S. coach Thomas Rongen said. "But in the end, we may not have created too many chances, but we took them clinically."

On Tuesday, the U.S. faces Germany which was shocked by a 2-0 defeat at the hands of South Korea. An American victory would come close to clinching advancement to the second round, but to do so, the Americans must play better in the midfield and create more scoring chances while maintaining a solid defense.

Robert Wagman is a SoccerTimes senior correspondent and can be e-mailed at bobwagman@soccertimes.com.