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Much like an American sports columnist needing a punchline and relying on old standbys like, say, the Detroit Lions, their British equivalents can always fall back on some good old fashioned bashing on American soccer when needed. Lately, though, as America has improved across the board both internationally and with MLS, this old cliche doesn't ring as true. Yet Friday afternoon the stodgy old Brit working the English language feed of the U-20 World Cup in Egypt wasn't far off with his relentless bashing and tweaking of the U.S. performance. Needing a result vs. South Korea to guarantee advancement to the knockout stages, the U.S. was instead thoroughly defeated 3-0 in Suez.
The U.S. now must wait for the final group stage matches Saturday to see if it's one of the top four third place finishers.
In the first half the U.S. never looked very composed, allowing goals by Young Gwon Kim (24th minute) and Bo Kyung Kim (43rd) to make it 2-0. The second goal came when Hee Sung Park played a ball over the top, which Sheandon Williams mistimed his jump, allowing Kim to finish with a powerful strike. This came shortly after U.S. midfielder Brek Shea raced up the left side, but fired his shot across the goal mouth and wide.
It only got worse in the second half as South Korea missed numerous chances to put the match away. The Koreans sealed the match in the 74th minute on a penalty kick from captain Ka Cheol Koo. It also resulted in the sending off of defender Ike Opara for his second yellow card offense of the match.
If the U.S. somehow advance with a negative-3 goal differential it will have to play its Round of 16 match with a string of players, as the team collected five yellow cards on Friday. By the same token, the U.S. finished with only one shot on target.
Ahead of Saturday's results, the U.S. sits third, behind Italy and Nigeria. There are plenty of permutations, but at first glance the best chance for the U.S. to advance would be for the Group D match between England and Uzbekistan (both with zero points) to finish a draw later on Friday.
But based on how the U.S. played against Germany and South Korea it really shouldn't feel too bad if it's on a plane back to the States on Sunday. Once the game got to 3-0 against Korea, the U.S. looked more concerned with going in for two-footed tackles then pulling back a crucial goal which would make the prospect of advancement more conceivable.
After a string of results like this, there is a tendency to over react and cast a pale over the U.S. developmental program. While it doesn't look good, tournament's like the U-20 World Cup can be deceiving since it's only three games. Plus as a rule, the FIFA underage tournaments are generally a mixed bag in terms of finding players.
It is a little concerning, however, that compared to the last U-20 World Cup in 2007, where players like Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley established themselves as important cogs for the U.S. senior team. Right now, it's hard to gauge anyone on the current roster for coach Thomas Rongen as anything other than a fringe player.
It also makes you wonder on a deeper level if the U.S. development system is working. Teams like Korea or Germany have an identity and a style of play, while U.S. doesn't necessarily. If anything the American identity seems to be picking up an unusually high amount of needless fouls in international competitions.
That's a question, though, for another day. For now the U.S. must wait out the final six results and hope that it gets a second chance at life at the tournament.
