PREVIEW: U-20 World Cup Spot on the Line as U.S. U-20 MYNT Takes on Guatemala in Concacaf Quarterfinals

U.S. Under-20 Men’s Youth National Team vs. Guatemala
2024 Concacaf U-20 Championship
Estadio León; León, Mexico
5:06 p.m. ET (FS2, and ViX)
July 30, 2024

U-20 MYNT ONE WIN VS. GUATEMALA AWAY FROM WORLD CUP QUALIFICATION

The U.S. Under-20 Men’s Youth National Team plays for a spot in the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup when it takes on Guatemala on Tuesday, July 30 (5:06 p.m. ET; FS2 and ViX) in the Concacaf U-20 Championship quarterfinals. The USA comes into the knockout round after winning all three of its group stage matches over Jamaica, Cuba, and Costa Rica by a combined scored of 14-0.

Guatemala comes into the quarterfinals as one of two third-place teams to advance out of the group stage. Following a 3-0 loss to Panama and a scrappy 2-1 loss to Mexico, Los Chapines earned its way into the quarterfinal with a 5-1 thumping of Haiti on the final day of group stage matches. Olger Escobar notched a hat trick in the win, putting him in a first-place tie for the Golden Boot.

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 Bombino (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.)

USA VS. GUATEMALA

• The USA is 7W-1L-2D vs. Guatemala all-time at the Concacaf U-20 Championship. The nations last squared off in 2015, a 1-1 draw in group stage play.
• The USA’s seven wins in the series all came consecutively from 1974 to 2001.
• Guatemala is making its 21st appearance in the Concacaf U-20 Championship. The country’s previous best performance at the tournament is two runner up finishes in 1962 and 1973.
• Guatemala reached the Concacaf U-20 Championship via qualifying. The team finished at the top of Qualifying Group C by winning all four of its group matches by a combined score of 15-1.
• At the 2022 Concacaf U-20 Championship, Guatemala finished second in Group G with a 2W-0L-1D record and advanced to the knockout round. The team advanced out of the Round of 16 after defeating Canada 4-3 in penalties and then upset Mexico 2-1 on penalty kicks to qualify for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Guatemala’s run ended in penalties, falling 4-2 to the Dominican Republic in the semifinals.
• Eleven of Guatemala’s 21 players are based domestically, nine players are based in the U.S. and one player each is based in Argentina and Mexico. Four of the U.S.-based players are signed with MLS squads: Arian Recinos (New York Red Bulls II), DeCarlo Guerra and Matthew Evans (LAFC), Olger Escobar (New England Revolution II).

CLUTCH WHEN CLINCHING

The USA’s quarterfinal match against Guatemala will be played for a spot in the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Since 1998, when the Concacaf U-20 Championship became the qualifying tournament for the U-20 World Cup, the U.S. has played in 12 matches where they could clinch a World Cup spot. They are 11W-1L-0D In those matches.

WE MEET AGAIN

This will be the second time the USA has faced Guatemala in a quarterfinal with a World Cup spot on the line. The last time it happened was on April 6, 2011, a 2-1 Guatemala win in Guatemala City. It’s the only time the U.S. hasn’t qualified for the U-20 World Cup since the Concacaf U-20 Championship became the qualifying tournament in 1998.

GOLDEN BOOT WITHIN REACH

Following the group stage, four U.S. players have two goals each and are one goal back of the lead in the Golden Boot race: Niko Tsakiris, David Vazquez, Pedro Soma, and Marcos Zambrano. Guatemala’s Olger Escobar and Panama’s Gustavo Herrera are tied for the Golden Boot lead with three goals.

CLEAN SHEETS

The USA notched its eighth-straight clean sheet in Concacaf U-20 Championship play, extending its 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 eight shutouts, the previous record included three scoreless draws. The U.S. currently has a clean sheet streak of 741 minutes, with the last goal conceded coming as an own goal in the 69th minute of the 2-2 draw with Canada on June 20, 2022.

CAUTION WATCH

Four U.S. players received yellow cards during the group stage: Luca Bombino, Stuart Hawkins, Pedro Soma and David Vazquez. Should any of the four be cautioned against Guatemala, they would serve a one-match suspension for the potential semifinal against Canada or Panama on August 2. Single yellow cards are cleared for all players following the quarterfinals.

GUATEMALA ROSTER (CLUB):

GOALKEEPERS (3): 1-Fausto Delgado (Hoosac School), 12-Diego Bolaños (Argentinos Juniors), 21-Álvaro Medrano (Woodstock Academy)

DEFENDERS (8): 2-Christopher Maldonado (San Francisco Dons), 3-Gabriel Cabrera (Amatitilán), 4-Héctor Prillwitz (Antigua), 5-Arian Recinos (New York Red Bulls II), 11-Rudy Muñoz (Municipal), 15-Carlos Aguilar (Malacateco), 16-Gary Perez (Atlanta City FC), 17-Diego Cuque (Municipal)

MIDFIELDERS (6): 6-Decarlo Guerra (Los Angeles FC), 7-Matthew Evans (Los Angeles FC), 8-Antony Recinos (FC Westchester), 13-Selvin Sagastume (Antigua), 14-Ariel Lon (Guastatoya), 18-Justin Racancoj (Xalajú)

FORWARDS (4): 9-Axel de la Cruz (Comunicaciones),10-Olger Escobar (New England Revolution II), 19-Daniel Méndez (Pachuca), 20-Marvin Ávila Jr. (Antigua)

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, 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.