Preview: USA Faces Morocco in U-20 World Cup Quarterfinal

U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team vs. Morocco

2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup – Quarterfinal

Sunday, October 12 | Estadio El Teniente; Rancagua, Chile

4 p.m. ET on FOX Soccer Plus, Universo, Peacock

USA SEEKS SEMIFINAL PLACE

Coming off a resounding 3-0 win against Italy in Thursday’s Round of 16 match, the U.S. U-20 Men’s National Team now turns its attention to Sunday’s quarterfinal clash with Morocco. Sunday’s match will mark the USA’s ninth overall and fifth consecutive quarterfinal at the FIFA U-20 World Cup, and Marko Mitrovic’s squad will attempt to book a semifinal place for only the second time in team history and first since 1989. 

2025 FIFA U-20 WORLD CUP – USA SCHEDULE/RESULTS

2025 FIFA U-20 WORLD CUP ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB/COUNTRY; U-20 CAPS/GOALS; HOMETOWN)

GOALKEEPERS (3): 1-Gavin Beavers (Brøndby/DEN; Henderson, Nev.; 2/0), 12-Adam Beaudry (Colorado Rapids; Castle Pines, Colo.; 11/0), 21-Duran Ferree (San Diego FC; San Diego, Calif.; 1/0)

DEFENDERS (7): 2-Reed Baker-Whiting (Seattle Sounders; Seattle, Wash.; 10/0), 18-Luca Bombino (San Diego FC; Saugus, Calif.; 11/0), 5-Noah Cobb (Colorado Rapids; Chattanooga, Tenn.; 14/1), 16-Ethan Kohler (SC Verl/GER; Campbell, Calif.; 15/1), 3-Nolan Norris (FC Dallas; Fort Worth, Texas; 19/2), 17-Frankie Westfield (Philadelphia Union; Philadelphia, Pa.; 10/1), 4-Joshua Wynder (Benfica/POR; Louisville, Ky.; 15/1) 

MIDFIELDERS (6): 19-Matthew Corcoran (Nashville SC; Dallas, Texas; 9/1), 8-Benjamin Cremaschi (Parma/ITA; Key Biscayne, Fla.; 13/7), 14-Taha Habroune (Columbus Crew; Columbus, Ohio; 18/3), 6-Brooklyn Raines (Houston Dynamo; Chicago, Ill.; 19/2), 15-Pedro Soma (San Diego FC; Coconut Creek, Fla.; 17/2), 10-Niko Tsakiris (San Jose Earthquakes; Saratoga, Calif.; 27/10)

FORWARDS (5): 11-Luke Brennan (Atlanta United; Atlanta, Ga.; 13/2), 7-Cole Campbell (Borussia Dortmund/GER; Peachtree City, Ga.; 7/2), 20-Zavier Gozo (Real Salt Lake City; Eagle Mountain, Utah; 15/3), 13-Peyton Miller (New England Revolution; Unionville, Conn.; 9/1), 9-Marcos Zambrano (Real Salt Lake; Gladwyne, Pa.; 17/7)

CREMASCHI BRACE PUTS HIM ATOP GOLDEN BOOT CHART, SETS U.S. RECORD

Already with a hat trick from the opening 9-1 win against New Caledonia, U.S. captain Benjamin Cremaschi, who is currently on loan to Serie A side Parma, bagged a brace against Italy in Thursday’s Round of 16 match to moved to first in the Golden Boot Race at the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup. The midfielder sits one goal ahead of Lucas Michal of France and Alejo Sarco of Argentina, who each have four goals through the Round of 16. 

Cremaschi also set a new U.S. record for goals at a single U-20 World Cup tournament, surpassing Taylor Twellman (1999), Eddie Johnson (2003), Josh Sargent (2017) and Sebastian Soto (2019), who each tallied four goals at their respective World Cups.

GOALS GALORE

Largely powered by its 9-1 win over New Caledonia, the U.S. extended its record for goals at a single U-20 World Cup with three more against Italy. Through four matches, Marko Mitrovic’s side has 16 goals scored by 10 different players, which is also a team record for most goal scorers in one World Cup. Cremaschi leads the team with five, followed by Nolan Norris and Niko Tsakris (two each), Cole Campbell, Noah Cobb, Zavier Gozo, Taha Habroune, Brooklyn Raines, Frankie Westfield and Marcos Zambrano (1 each). 

GETTING OVER THE QUARTERFINAL HUMP

Sunday’s match marks the USA’s fifth-straight quarterfinal appearance, a streak that dates all the way back to the 2015 tournament in New Zealand when a U.S. side that featured future USMNT players Kellyn Acosta, Paul Arriola, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Matt Miazga, Shaq Moore and Zack Steffen fell on penalty kicks to eventual World Cup champions Serbia. Interestingly enough, current U-20 MNT head coach Marco Mitrović was an assistant coach for that World Cup champion side and now looks to guide the U.S. over the quarterfinal hump and back to the U-20 World Cup semifinals for the first time since 1989. 

Knowing what it takes to win the U-20 World Cup, as well as the quarterfinal being a consistent exit point for the U.S. side, Mitrovic made a very pointed locker room speech following Thursday’s 3-0 win against Italy.

“We know why we’re here and what we want to do,” he told the players and staff. “Feel happiness today. The most important [thing] is to recover our emotions… Tomorrow morning we have to be ready to go again. Use tomorrow to recover and focus on the next game. We stay humble and we move forward.”

MOROCCO EDGES PAST KOREA REPUBLIC INTO QUARTERFINALS

Making just their fourth appearance at the U-20 World Cup, Morocco advanced from an incredibly challenging Group C, opening with a 2-0 win against Spain and following up with a 1-0 victory against Brazil. With their advancement already secured, the African side dropped a narrow 1-0 decision to Mexico in the finale, but still finished atop the group. Advancing to a Round of 16 date with Korea Republic on Thursday, the Atlas Lions utilized an eighth-minute own goal as well as a 58th minute strike from Yassir Zabiri to take a 2-0 lead, before surrendering a late penalty kick to earn a 2-1 victory.

USA ROSTER NOTES

• Players born on or after Jan. 1, 2005, are age-eligible for the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
• Head coach Marko Mitrović selected 11 players born in 2005, eight born in 2006 and two born in 2007.
• The roster features players from 19 clubs, including 16 from 12 different Major League Soccer teams. San Diego FC leads the way with three selections, followed by two each from Colorado Rapids and Real Salt Lake. Five players are based abroad: two in Germany, and one player each in Denmark, Italy, Portugal and Spain.
• The USA qualified for the 2025 U-20 World Cup after a runner-up finish at the 2024 Concacaf U-20 Championship in Mexico. The USA rolled through the group stage with wins against Jamaica (9-0), Cuba (4-0) and Costa Rica (1-0), before a 1-0 quarterfinal victory against Guatemala and 2-1 semifinal win over Panama. Despite taking the lead, the USA fell 2-1 in extra time to hosts Mexico in the final.

USA VS. MOROCCO

• Thursday will mark the first-ever meeting between the USA and Morocco at the U-20 World Cup. 
• While this is their first World Cup encounter, these two sides are familiar with each other, having played a set of friendlies in San Pedro del Pinatar, Spain just last month.
• After giving up a second-minute goal, the USA came storming back with goals from Zavier Gozo, Josh Wynder, Matthew Corcoran and Marcos Zambrano to earn a 4-1 win on Sept. 5. The teams then played to a spirited 0-0 draw on Sept. 7.
• The two nations also met at the quarterfinal stage in the 2024 Summer Olympics, with Morocco taking a 4-0 victory en route to winning the bronze medal in Paris. 
• Both Mitrovic and Morocco head coach Tarik Sektioui guided their respective Olympic teams last summer in France, while U-20 MNT captain Benjamin Cremaschi, then 18, was the youngest player on the U.S. roster at age 19. 
• The USA fell 3-1 in the previous matchup which also came in the Round of 16 during the 2005 tournament in Enschede, Netherlands. 
• This year marks Italy’s ninth overall appearance at the FIFA U-20 World Cup and its fourth straight appearance in the tournament.
• In 2023, Italy finished as the runners up at the FIFA U-20 World Cup following a 1-0 loss to Uruguay in the final. It’s the country’s best finish at the tournament.
• Nineteen players on Italy’s 21-man roster are based domestically. Two are based abroad, with one apiece in the Netherlands and Spain. 

MOROCCO – 2025 FIFA U-20 WORLD CUP ROSTER BY POSITION 

GOALKEEPERS (3): 1-Yanis Benchaouch (Monaco/FRA), 12-Ibrahim Gomis (Olympique Marseille/FRA), 16-Abdelhakim Mesbahi (AS FAR)

DEFENDERS (6): 2-Ilyass Mahsoub (USM Oujda), 3-Ali Maamar (Anderlecht/BEL), 4-Ismaël Baouf (Cambuur/NED), 15-Fouad Zahouani (Union Touarga), 19-Smail Bakhty (Sturm Graz/AUT), 20-Mohammed Kebdani (AS FAR), 

MIDFIELDERS (4): 5-Anas Tajaouart (Anderlecht/BEL), 6-Naïm Byar (Foggia/ITA), 8-Houssam Essadak (Union Touarga), 18-Yassine Khalifi (Charleroi/BEL)

FORWARDS (8): 7-Othmane Maamma (Watford/ENG), 9-Younes El Bahraoui (KAC Marrakech), 10-Saad El Haddad (Venezia/ITA), 11-Ilias Boumassaoudi (Den Bosch/NED), 13-Taha Majni, 14-Mohamed Hamony (Girona/ESP), 17-Gessime Yassine (Dunkerque/FRA), 21-Yassir Zabiri (Famalicāo/POR)

HOW THEY GOT HERE

• Morocco topped Group C, defeating Spain 2-0 and Brazil 1-0, before falling 1-0 to Mexico in the finale. The African side then outlasted Korea Republic 2-1 in the Round of 16.
• Morocco secured one of CAF’s four World Cup berths after reaching the semifinals of the 2025 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations. 
• In the group stage, the Atlas Lions defeated Kenya 3-2, drew 0-0 with Nigeria and beat Tunisia 2-1 to finish atop Group A. In the quarterfinals, Morocco bested Sierra Leone 1-0 in extra time to earn its World Cup berth and defeated Egypt 1-0 in the semifinal, before falling 1-0 to South Africa in the championship match. 

U-20 WORLD CUP HISTORY

The United States has qualified for 18 of 24 all-time U-20 World Cups, tied for second-most all-time with Argentina. The biennial tournament was staged for the first time in 1977 and Tunisia hosted the inaugural event, originally held as the FIFA World Youth Championship before becoming the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2007. The USA’s first qualification came at the 1981 tournament, which was held in Australia.

The USA has made it out of the group stage 12 times at the competition with the high watermark coming in 1989. Led by future legendary USMNT goalkeeper Kasey Keller, the U.S. finished fourth place in Saudi Arabia that year. Keller took home the Silver Ball at the tournament, while fellow future senior team players Mike Burns, Neil Covone and Chris Henderson also played key roles. While the U-20s advanced from group play with just one win, the USA took down Iraq in the quarterfinals before falling in extra time to Nigeria in the semis.