BRENT LATHAM – The U.S. kicks off CONCACAF U-20 qualifying tonight against Suriname, at the same time the full national team is playing against Paraguay.
So there’s your first good excuse for missing the game, but they don’t stop there. The format of this tournament makes it real hard to get overly excited about the group stage. The U.S. will play what amount to two scrimmages against Panama and Suriname, probably needing only a tie in one to advance, before a winner take all quarterfinal matchup against Guatemala, Honduras or Jamaica.
The format is ridiculous, and we can harp on that some more later, but in the meantime what should we expect from Rongen’s side?
Some experimentation would be the first thing. Rongen is missing a few key cogs to club commitments in Adrian Ruelas, Ernest Nungaray, Josh Gatt, and Alex Zahavi. That leaves him a little thin at the vital wing positions, and it will be interesting to see who steps up in the first matches.In a 3-0 scrimmage win against FC Dallas reserves before the team traveled, Bobby Wood and Joe Gyau manned the wings with Conor Doyle in the middle of the attack.
That may be the starting lineup up top against whoever the U.S. faces in the quarters, but it’s possible Rongen will experiment Tuesday with newcomer Eder Arreola or perhaps Omar Salgado on a wing.
Another question is who mans that critical central midfield triangle under the wingers and number 9. Rongen is likely to try to take it to the opponents throughout the tournament.
“We’ve found players that are very comfortable playing out of the 4-3-3 with the triangle being reversed,” Rongen said. “We’re trying to play more like Barcelona, sometimes we might tweak that if we feel like we’re playing against a team that might be better than us, it’s just a matter of flipping that triangle a little bit, 15 yards, twenty yards, with the linking players.”
Look for Amobi Okugo to hold down the middle of the field, with Sebastian Lletget and Dillon Powers on the attacking side of the array in the middle. UCLA product Kelyn Rowe also will see ample playing time in attacking midfield, and may even start alongside fellow collegian Powers on Tuesday.
The defense shouldn’t have much work to do Tuesday, though U-20 World Cup vet Gale Agbossoumonde is looking forward to his second time around at qualifiers, and will likely team with DC United revelation Perry Kitchen in the middle. Look for Duke’s Sebastien Ibeagha to be a revelation as well if he gets some time in the middle.
Out wide the old standbys of Zarek Valentin on the right and Greg Garza on the left are the likely choices, though FC Dallas homegrown product Moises Hernandez may compete with Garza on the left.
In goal both Cody Cropper and Zac MacMath are fantastic insurance policies, the quality of which few of their opponents at this level will have faced.
In the end, expect to see plenty of experimentation from Rongen tonight and on Saturday against Panama. The game that counts is still a week away, next Wednesday in the quarters.
10 Kit will have plenty of coverage of this event from Guatemala, so drop us a line if there’s something you’d like to know or see.