SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras (July 3, 2022) – The U.S. Under-20 Men’s Youth National Team routed the Dominican Republic 6-0 in the 2022 Concacaf U-20 Championship Final on Sunday evening at Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano. Having already secured berths to the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup and 2024 Olympic Games, the USA scored three goals in each half and posted its sixth shutout to win its third consecutive regional title at this level after taking home its first two Concacaf championships in 2017 and 2018.
Goals from Tyler Wolff, Paxten Aaronson and Noah Allen put the U.S. ahead comfortably by halftime, while Aaronson, Jack McGlynn and Niko Tsakiris added three more after the break to secure the largest margin of victory in Concacaf U-20 Championship Final history.
Aaronson finished with a tournament-high seven goals to capture the Golden Boot and also won the Golden Ball as the tournament’s Best Player. Chris Brady won the Golden Glove as the Best Goalkeeper of the competition.
Despite making six changes to the starting XI that defeated Honduras in the semifinal, the U.S. showcased the depth of its roster as the U-20s again started on the front foot from the opening whistle and kept it going for 90 minutes.
The first clear chance came in the eight minute, when Alejandro Alvarado Jr. went deep in the U.S. end to collect a ball and sent a 45 yards pass over the top towards forwards Caden Clark and Wolff. It fell closer to Wolff, who took one touch and ripped a shot from just inside the box, but Dominican Republic goalkeeper Omry Bello read the play developing and came off his line to be in position to make the reaction save some 16 yards away from goal.
The patient U-20 MYNT would find the breakthrough in the 17th minute when Wolff headed in Jackson Hopkins’ cross from six yards out. The lead was almost doubled minutes later when Aaronson skillfully lifted a short ball to Tsakiris, who chest-trapped it with his back to goal from the left side and hit a mid-air volley off-target.
In a display of its first-half dominance, the USA nearly completed a 29-pass sequence that spanned two minutes with a goal as Aaronson slipped Hopkins into the right side to the area. The D.C. United forward would cut to his left and shoot, but Bello came up with the big save.
The Dominican Republic was able to threaten in the 33rd when Thomas Jungbauer played a ball deep into the USA end. A miscommunication allowed Angel Montes de Oca to win the ball and hit a strong right-footed volley from 17 yards out that Brady dove to his left to save.
The USA would then score twice within minutes, as Aaronson finished off a nice pass from Diego Luna and Noah Allen hit a powerful shot that deflected off a defender and in for his first goal of the tournament, becoming the 13th U.S. player to score at the tournament.
The second half saw much of the same U.S. dominance. Substitute Jack McGlynn finished a quick combination when he played wall-passes with Hopkins, Aaronson and Tsakiris before scoring his second goal of the tournament.
Two minute later, Aaronson finished a quickly taken free kick by Brandan Craig to take the team and tournament lead with his seventh goal.
Bello would make fantastic saves of shots from Neal and Caden Clark in the 60th minute, but the USA would add a sixth seconds later when Tsakiris finished a pass from Clark from seven yards out to complete the scoring.
USA - Tyler Wolff (Jackson Hopkins), 17th minute: Right back Mauricio Cuevas took a simple throw-in from the right side that went across the defense and came back around, leaving Cuevas with space before he advanced a perfected-weighted ball down the right wing. Jackson Hopkins kept his mark on his left shoulder as he let it roll, hitting a first-time cross that Wolff met with a powerful header from six yards out for his second goal of the tournament. USA 1, DOM 0
USA - Paxten Aaronson (Diego Luna), 37th minute: Niko Tsakiris’s corner kick from left was headed by a Dominican defender and Luna was positioned on the left to collect it. Luna faked sending the ball back into the mix and instead sent a slight no-look low short pass into the area to Aaronson, who turned toward goal and fired a shot past goalkeeper Omry Bello to double the lead. USA 2, DOM 0
USA - Noah Allen (unassisted), 39th minute: Moving toward the penalty area near the right endline, Cuevas left his mark with a nasty cut-back to free himself for a clean cross. The ball was headed away, but an alert Allen stepped forward before another defender could clear it and one-timed a left-footed shot from 12 yards out that deflected off a defender on its way to the back of the net for his first goal of the competition. USA 3, DOM 0
USA - Jack McGlynn (Niko Tsakiris), 53rd minute: The play started from the back when Allen sent a long ball over the top toward the right side to Hopkins. Hopkins quickly linked with McGlynn, who played a wall pass with Aaronson and then again with Tsakiris, getting the ball back at the top of the box with his back to goal. After turning, McGlynn rolled it from left to right and placed an 18-yard shot to the side net for his second goal of the tourney. USA 4, DOM 0
USA - Paxten Aaronson (Brandan Craig), 55th minute: After Luna was fouled some 27 yards from goal, Tsakiris stepped back to position himself to take the free kick with his preferred left foot, while Brandan Craig stood over the ball, but Craig took the quick set piece with a sharp pass to the top of the area for Aaronson, who beat the offside trap, turning toward goal and scoring from 12 yards out for his Goldne Boot-clinching seventh goal. USA 5, DOM 0
USA – Niko Tsakiris (Caden Clark), 61st minute: Coming down the center, McGlynn played a nice pass to Clark on left side of the box. Clark passed through a defender towards the middle, where Tsakiris won the next ball and hit a left-footed shot eight yards out to finish the rout. USA 6, DOM 0
Match: U.S. Under-20 Men’s Youth National Team vs. Dominican Republic
Date: July 3, 2022
Competition: Concacaf U-20 Championship – Final
Venue: Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano; San Pedro Sula, Honduras
Attendance: 100
Kickoff: 6 p.m. local (8 p.m. ET)
Weather: 82 degrees, overcast
Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
USA 3 3 6
DOM 0 0 0
USA - Tyler Wolff (Jackson Hopkins) 17th minute
USA - Paxten Aaronson (Diego Luna) 37
USA - Jalen Neal (unassisted) 39
USA - Nikolas Tsakiris 53
USA - Paxten Aaronson (Brandan Craig) 55
USA - Nikolas Tsakiris (Caden Clark) 61
Lineups:
USA: 1-Chris Brady (12-Antonio Carrera, 58); 2-Mauricio Cuevas (Capt.), 3-Noah Allen, 5-Brandan Craig (4-Marcus Ferkranus, 66) 14-Jalen Neal; 18-Jackson Hopkins (7-Quinn Sullivan, 57), 16-Tyler Wolff (11-Caden Clark, 57), 17-Nikolas Tsakiris, 10-Paxten Aaronson, 15-Diego Luna, 19-Alejandro Alvarado (8-Jack McGlynn, 46)
Substitutes Not Used: 13-Michael Halliday, 20-Rokas Pukstas,
Suspended: 9-Cade Cowell
Head Coach: Mikey Varas
DOM: 1-Omry Bello, 2-Charbel Wehbe, 3-Thomas Jungbauer, 4-Sebastian Mañon (Capt.), 7-Bryan More (20-Annier Rojas, 57), 8-Angel Montes de Oca, 9-Anyelo Gomez (15-Luis Francisco, 79), 11-Diefri Sandy, 14-Yordy Alvarez, 16-Miguel Vasquez (18-Alfeni Tamares, 57, 19-Guillermo de Peña
Substitutes Not Used: 12-Xavier Valdez, 10-Edison Azcona, 13-Adhonys Maria, 17-Jason Yambatis
Head Coach: Mariano Perez
Stats Summary: USA / DOM
Shots: 23 / 8
Shots on Goal: 13 / 3
Saves: 3 / 7
Corner Kicks: 6 / 2
Fouls: 13 / 7
Offside: 3 / 0
Misconduct Summary:
None
Officials:
Referee: Drew Fisher (CAN)
Assistant Referee 1: Christopher Wattam (CAN)
Assistant Referee 2: Iroots Appleton (ATG)
Fourth Official: Reon Radix (GRN)
VAR: Angel Monroy (MEX)
AVAR1: Pierre-luc Lauziere (CAN)