PREVIEW: U-20 MYNT Squares Up with Costa Rica with First Place in Group A on the Line

U.S.Under-20 Men’s Youth National Team vs. Costa Rica
2024 Concacaf U-20 Championship
Estadio León, León, Mexico
8:30 p.m. ET (FS2, ViX)
July 26, 2024

U-20 MYNT FINISH GROUP STAGE PLAY VS. COSTA RICA

The U.S. Under-20 Men’s Youth National Team finishes group play in its World Cup qualifying quest on Friday, July 26, against Costa Rica (8:30 p.m. ET; FS2 and Vix). The USA is currently at the top of Group A with six points following Monday’s 4-0 win over Cuba as three more players (Ethan Kohler, Zavier Gozo, and Taha Habroune) tallied their first goals with the U-20 MYNT.

Costa Rica is second in group A after a dominating 3-0 win against Jamaica where the team outshot its opponent 10-1 and held 61.5 percent of possession. Forward Andy Rojas earned a brace with two of his team’s three goals.

First place in Group A will be on the line. The USA needs a win or a draw to clinch the top spot, while Costa Rica can only finish first with a win.

2024 CONCACAF U-20 CHAMPIONSHIP
USA SCHEDULE - GROUP A

USA VS. COSTA RICA

• The USA is 6W-3L-4D vs. Costa Rica all-time at the Concacaf U-20 Championship. The nations last squared off in 2022, a 2-0 quarterfinal win that qualified the U.S. for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
• The U.S. has won its last three matchups with Costa Rica, outscoring the team 7-0 in those three matches.
• Costa Rica comes into the tournament as the fifth-ranked country in Concacaf and is making its 22nd appearance in the Concacaf U-20 Championship. The country’s previous best performance at the tournament is two championships in 1988 and 2009.
• At the 2022 Concacaf U-20 Championship, Costa Rica finished second in Group H with a 1W-1L-1D record and advanced to the Round of 16. Following a 4-1 win over Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica was eliminated from the tournament by the U.S. in a 2-0 quarterfinal loss.
• Twenty of Costa Rica’s 21 players are based domestically with seven players from Alajuelense and five payers from Saprissa. One player, 16-year old Matías Wanchope, plays with the LAFC Academy in the U.S.

2024 CONCACAF U-20 CHAMPIONSHIP
GROUP A STANDINGS

GROUP A RESULTS

Friday, July 19
USA 9, Jamaica 0
Costa Rica 1, Cuba 1

Monday, July 22
USA 4, Cuba 0
Jamaica 0, Costa Rica 3

WHAT’S AT STAKE

First place in the group will be at stake in the USA’s final group match. With the quarterfinal serving as the “qualification” match for the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup, a first-place finish in Group A would see the USA face a third-place team from either Group B or Group C. A second-place finish would mean a quarterfinal date with the winner of Group C, which could likely be host country Mexico.

READY, SET, GOAL

The USA has taken advantage of its dead-ball opportunities in this tournament. In the team’s 4-0 win against Cuba, two of the goals either came directly off a set piece or a play off a set piece. Ethan Kohler’s match-opening goal came directly off Niko Tsakiris’ free kick. Marcos Zambrano’s stoppage time goal was the result of a short corner play, with Cruz Medina finding Sergio Oregel near the top right corner of the box and Oregel crossing the ball to Zambrano in the six-yard area. In the USA’s 9-0 win over Jamaica, Pedro Soma scored in the 16th minute directly off a David Vazquez corner kick.

TWO’S COMPANY

After two group stage matches, several USA players are at the top of the leaderboard in two categories: goals and assists. Pedro Soma and Marcos Zambrano are in a five-way tie for the Golden Boot with two goals each. Taha Habroune and Zavier Gozo are in a three-way tie for the most assists with two. But one player amongst the leaders in both categories with two goals and two assists in two matches: David Vazquez.

SPREADING THE WEALTH

Following the USA’s 4-0 win over Cuba, 10 different players have scored in this tournament: Ethan Kohler, Taha Habroune, Cruz Medina, Pedro Soma, Niko Tsakiris, Nimfasha Berchimas, Zavier Gozo, Ruben Ramos Jr., David Vazquez, and Marcos Zambrano.

CLEAN SHEETS

The USA notched its seventh straight clean sheet in U-20 Championship play, setting a new record for most consecutive clean sheets. The previous record of six was set across two tournaments in 2007 and 2009. Unlike this current streak of seven shutouts, the previous record included three scoreless draws. The U.S. currently has a clean sheet streak of 651 minutes, with the last goal coming as an own goal in the 69th minute of the U.S.’s 2-2 draw with Canada on June 20, 2022.

FINISHING STRONG

While the number of group stage matches over the years has changed, the USA’s ability to finish the group with a win has been consistent. The U.S. is currently on a nine-match winning streak in its final group stage match. The last time USA lost in its group stage finale was a 3-2 loss to Canada on November 17, 2002.

BEING CAUTIOUS

Two players head into the final group stage match with yellow cards: Stuart Hawkins and Luca Bambino. If either player earns a caution in the match, they will be suspended for the quarterfinal. All yellow cards are wiped away after the group stage.

2024 CONCACAF U-20 CHAMPIONSHIP ROSTER BY POSITION (COLLEGE OR CLUB; HOMETOWN)

GOALKEEPERS (3): Adam Beaudry (Colorado Rapids; Castle Pines, Colo.), Julian Eyestone (Brentford FC/ENG; Dallas, Texas), Duran Ferree (Orange County SC; San Diego, Calif.)

DEFENDERS (6): Luca Bambino (Los Angeles FC; Saugus, Calif.), Noah Cobb (Atlanta United FC; Chattanooga, Tenn.), Aiden Harangi (Eintracht Frankfurt/GER; Reston, Va.), Stuart Hawkins (Seattle Sounders FC; Fox Island, Wash.), Ethan Kohler (Werder Bremen/GER; Campbell, Calif.), Nolan Norris (FC Dallas; Fort Worth, Texas)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Taha Habroune (Columbus Crew; Columbus, Ohio), Cruz Medina (San Jose Earthquakes; San Francisco, Calif.), Sergio Oregel Jr. (Chicago Fire FC; Chicago, Ill.), Brooklyn Raines (Houston Dynamo FC; Chicago, Ill.), Pedro Soma (UE Cornella/ESP; Coconut Creek, Fla.), Niko Tsakiris (San Jose Earthquakes; Saratoga, Calif.)

FORWARDS (6): NimfashaBerchimas (Charlotte FC; High Point, N.C.), Keyrol Figueroa (Liverpool/ENG; Warrington, England), Zavier Gozo (Real Salt Lake; Eagle Mountain, Utah), Ruben Ramos Jr. (LA Galaxy; La Puente, Calif.), David Vazquez (Philadelphia Union; Los Angeles, Calif.), Marcos Zambrano (Vitoria Guimaraes/POR; Parkland, Fla.)

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• Four players made their U-20 international debuts against Cuba: Julian Eyestone, Keyrol Figueroa, Stuart Hawkins and Ethan Kohler. Twenty of USA’s 21-player roster have officially made their U-20 international debuts.
• Three more players have now tallied at least one goal and one assist in the tournament. There are now seven different players with at least one goal and one assist: Niko Tsakiris, Zavier Gozo, Taha Habroune Ruben Ramos, Jr., David Vazquez, Marcos Zambrano, and Nimfasha Berchimas.

COSTA RICA ROSTER (CLUB):

GOALKEEPERS (3): 1-Benny Rojas (Saprissa), 13-Sebastián Quesada (Sporting), 18-Marcelo Lacayo (Belén)

DEFENDERS (6): 2-Kenan Myrie (Saprissa), 3-Alejandro Arenas (Alajuelense), 4-Farbod Samadian (Alajuelense), 6-Andry Naranjo (Jicaral), 12-Julián González (Saprissa), 16-Walter Ramírez (Alajuelense)

MIDFIELDERS (7): 5-Alberth Barahona (Saprissa), 8-Bryson Rodríguez (Liberia), 10-Claudio Montero (Alajuelense), 14-Dylan Masís (Saprissa), 15-Deylan Aguilar (Alajuelense), 19- Leonardo Alfaro (Cartaginés), 20-Pablo Agüero (Sporting)

FORWARDS (7): 7-Jorge Morejón (Alajuelense), 9-Esteban Cruz (Alajuelense), 11-Andy Rojas (Herediano), 17-Dylan Ramírez (Sporting), 21-Matías Wanchope (LAFC Academy)

ROAD TO MEXICO:

Head coach Michael Nsien had two training camps to prepare for World Cup qualifying. The team traveled to Morocco in late March and then traveled to South America for matches in Argentina and Uruguay.

In Morocco, the team beat England 3-2, followed by a tough 1-0 lost to host Morocco. In South America, the USA swept its two matches, blanking Argentina and Uruguay in a pair of 1-0 wins.

TOURNAMENT FORMAT:

The biennial Concacaf U-20 Championship will qualify four teams to the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile and crown a confederation champion for North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

This year’s tournament will be the first using the new format approved by Concacaf’s Council in February 2023 for future U-17 and U-20 tournaments. Three major changes were made:

• The number of automatically qualified teams for the final tournament was reduced from 16 to six. Teams ranked 7-41 in the CONCACAF Men’s Under-20 Rankings had to participate in a qualifying stage.
• The group stage is now just three groups of four teams instead of four groups.
• The round of 16 was eliminated.

Twelve teams from across the Concacaf region will compete at the tournament. The top six ranked U-20 Concacaf teams automatically qualified:

1. USA
2. Honduras
3. Mexico
4. Panama
5. Costa Rica
6. Dominican Republic.

The six remaining teams (Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Canada, Haiti, and Jamaica) qualified for the main tournament through the qualifying round which took place from February 23 to March 2 in five different host countries.

The group stage is made up of three groups of four teams playing a round-robin format. Eight teams, the top two teams in each group and the two best third-place teams, advance to the quarterfinals to begin the knockout stage. The teams then play a single-elimination format to crown the champion.

The four quarterfinals winners will qualify for the 2025 U-20 FIFA World Cup in Chile.

All 25 tournament matches will take place at two venues in Celaya and Irapuato in Mexico.

The U.S. has participated in 25 of 28 Concacaf U-20 Championships, including each tournament since 1974, and qualified for the World Cup in 16 of 23 attempts. After missing the 2011 tournament, the U.S. has played in the last four U-20 World Cups and is the only nation to reach the quarterfinals in the last three competitions/meetings.