US-Austria Preview

What possibly could be the most underhyped of the four quarterfinal games of the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup (at least from a global view) features the US and Austria, with the winner advancing to the semi-finals to take on the winner of the Spain-Czech Republic game. The US is seen as the significant favorite over Austria, however they were seen in the same light before their game against Uruguay and that was a much closer game than many people thought it would be.


Austria's roster is comprised of all domestic-based players except for one, Martin Harnik, who plays for Werder Bremen in Germany. They're led offensively by Erwin--and this is not my own bad joke--"Jimmy" Hoffer, who's scored twice in four games for his side. Austria as a team has only scored four goals in this tournament; however they've only conceded two and if they can force their tempo on the US like Uruguay did, they could pull the upset and move on to the semi-finals. Three different goalies have played for Austria thus far; Michael Zaglmair has started twice and Andreas Lukse and Bartolomej Kuru have started once. Zaglmair was in net for Austria's 1-1 tie with Congo in the first group game and for the 2-1 win over Gambia in the quarterfinals. It seems as if a rotation is in place, and if that's the case, Andreas Lukse is in line to start against the US as his last appearance was in the second group game (a 1-0 victory over Canada). One thing is for certain though: Austria's defense is led by Sebastian Proedl, who plays his club soccer at SK Sturm Graz. Proedl has played every minute of every game at this U-20 World Cup, and at 6'2", 187, Proedl is a physically imposing player who could give the US fits all night.


I'd venture to say everyone reading this preview knows about the US by this point. Freddy Adu, Josmer Altidore, Danny Szetela, and Sal Zizzo have carried the US to this stage in the tournament. However, Altidore's availability could be in question after he limped off with a knee injury in the 51st minute against Uruguay. The last thing the US needs is to play without Altidore against an already-referenced stout defense. The two goals scored in the Uruguay game were scrappy, hard-nosed goals that don't come around too often. Andre Akpan didn't show much of anything after he was subbed on for Altidore and if he has to start this game, the US could be in trouble offensively. Their goalkeeping situation also could be in doubt. Chris Seitz, the starter, got injured against Brazil and was obviously still too banged up to play against Uruguay was Brian Perk got the call. There's a huge gap between Seitz and Perk, in my opinion, and though it may not turn out to be much a factor against a team like Austria that struggles to score, I'd rather have Seitz in goal ten times out of ten. Perk looked shaky at best against Uruguay; not calling off defenders to claim the ball himself, punching balls he easily could've caught, in short, looking every bit of the 17 years of age that he is. Seitz is a steady, calming influence at the back and his presence alone would give the US a huge advantage.

Toronto, Ontario is the host city for tomorrow's game, which is scheduled for a 2:15 PM Eastern Time kickoff on ESPN U. Check back here for a full match recap, one which hopefully will be celebrating a US win.

International Eligibility

When the US U-20 national team played Poland on July 3, the match commentator made a comment touching on something I had been stewing over for a while. He said that Danny Szetela was eligible to play for Poland based on his heritage; Szetela's parents are native Poles but Szetela himself was born in New Jersey and has lived in the US his whole life.


Nigel Reo-Coker's transfer on July 5 brought up the same topic. Reo-Coker is of Sierra Leonean descent and has stated on multiple occasions that he would consider future call-ups to their senior national team, though he was the captain of the England U-21 team until recently, having become too old to play for the squad after the 2007 UEFA U-21 Championship which finished in June. He's lived in England since he was eight and played for England's youth senior teams and club teams and captained some of them along the way. Should he really be allowed to play for Sierra Leone? He's spent more than half his life in England, including the part of it where soccer played the bigger part. Ages 8-present are more important for soccer than anything younger than 8 because opportunities for rapid development and good coaching can be found as you get a bit older.

There are, of course, many other players who are in the same position as these two players; that is, they're eligible to compete for multiple countries, if their heritage allows, on the senior international level even after playing for one country on the youth international level. They can still play for another country at the senior level as long as they're uncapped with the senior team of the country they played their youth international games for. This ruled Freddy Adu out as he played for the US senior team on January 22, 2006 in a friendly against Canada. Adu could've played for Ghana even though he's lived in the US since he was eight and has played for youth international teams here, but that eligibility was terminated once he made a senior appearance with the US. It doesn't work backwards, however. A player can't play for one country's senior team and then still compete for another country's youth teams.

All of this, to me, is ridiculous. If you play for a country at the youth international level, that's the country you should have to play for at the senior level. FIFA currently organizes world championships at the U-17 and U-20 level, but countries have national teams for ages even younger than this; both the US and England have a U-16 team, for example. By that age, players should have enough maturity to decide what country (if they are eligible to play for more than one) they want to play international soccer for. Jumping from one country's youth teams to another's senior team shouldn't be permitted. That rule needs to be changed by the powers-that-be. What sense does it make?? The players that take advantage of this rule often exploit it to play for a country on whose senior team they would be able to play more for, perhaps because the country whose youth teams they played for is stacked at the senior level and there's no room for that player to play a part on the team.

How right is that? Doesn't sound logical to me. Playing for your national team is supposed to be an act of patriotism. It's not a right, it's a priviledge (as my parents said to me when I became old enough to drive). To put on that uniform is something time-honored and something that people who aren't blessed with the skills that those players have but still play the game would do anything for. You represent your country when you play for their national teams, at any level. But for some reason, it's permitted for players to, for lack of a better term, country-hop. What message does that send young players?

In Danny Szetela's case, I understand that his parents are from Poland. I'm sure they speak the language fluently and I wouldn't be surprised if Danny himself spoke it as well. Here's the reality though: He was born in New Jersey and has lived his whole life here. He shouldn't be allowed to play for Poland because he isn't Polish! His parents, if they played soccer, could play for Poland because they're native Poles, but Szetela is an American. There simply shouldn't be any way that could play for them. He's made it clear that he will only play for the US senior side if called up, and I applaud him for that, but that isn't the point.

Look, I know that some situations are different than others, some are the same, and some are completely unique. But the fact is, if you're mature enough to embrace the colors of one country at the youth international level, that's the country you should have to play for at the senior level. If there's any doubts in your mind as a player about who you want to play for as an adult, don't appear for any youth team until you've made your decision. Players take advantage of the rule that allows them to play for different teams and that shouldn't be the case.

US U-20's to Meet Uruguay in Round of 16

The Round of 16 was finalized yesterday as group play finished off in Groups A and C. The US, as the winner of Group D, earned the right to play a third place team in the Round of 16, and their opponent will be South American side Uruguay.

Uruguay ended group play (Group B) with 4 points from 3 games and a -1 goal differential, which cost them second place as Zambia also had 4 points but a +1 goal differential. Uruguay was led by two goals from Palermo striker Edison Cavani and a goal and an assist from FC Gronigen midfielder Luis Suarez. Worth noting, however, is the fact that Uruguay will enter the match with the US without their starting goalkeeper, Mauro Goicoechea, who received a red card just 19 minutes into his country's final group match against Zambia (a 2-0 loss). This surely will be a huge advantage for the US, whose dynamic offense gives starting goalkeepers fits, much less their backups.

The US heads into the knockout stages as the winner of Group D with 7 points. A comfortable goal differential of +6, buoyed by 3 goals apiece from Danny Szetela, Freddy Adu, and Josmer Altidore. Sal Zizzo contributed 3 assists as well, and the US led all countries in goals scored during the group stage with 9.

The match will be played in Toronto on Wednesday, July 11. It's tentatively scheduled to be televised on ESPN U, though interest across the country forced ESPN executives to move the match against Brazil to ESPN and the same may be done again. The winner of this match will play the winner of the Austria-Gambia game in Toronto on July 14.

Check back here for a full recap of this match and if results go the US' way, a preview of their quarterfinal game.

For the complete knockout bracket, see: http://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/matches/index.html

US U-20's Victorious, Rout Poland 6-1

After a shaky start that saw them go down a goal just 4 minutes into the game, the US U-20's picked up their play and went on to beat Poland's U-20 team 6-1, led by a hat trick from Freddy Adu and two goals from Danny Szetela, the talented Columbus Crew youngster with Polish heritage.

In all honesty, the outcome could've been even more one-sided. The US looked threatening all game long, visibly outclassing Poland at every position on the field. Southampton's Bartosz Bialkowski came up with some outstanding saves to hold the US to 6 goals and without him in net, Poland may just have conceded a total in the double digits as the US was firing shots from all over the field.

The Polish defense, headlined by Bolton defender Jaroslaw Fojut, their captain, will be hard-pressed to forget Adu and Szetela, but I think it was Sal Zizzo who came up with the best performance of the night. Zizzo looked like Cristiano Ronaldo with his play on the right side, constantly running at the Polish defenders and breaking them down. He had two assists on the night and it was only his unselfishness that didn't see his name onto the scoresheet as he was the most menacing player on the field.

One brief sidenote about the match, which was played at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. If the stadium isn't good enough to keep the professional baseball team that played there recently, the Montreal Expos, is it really fit to be a site at the FIFA U-20 World Cup? It's a 65,000+ seat stadium but only half of it, at best, was filled for the US-Poland game. There's nothing worse than playing in front of a reserved, lackluster crowd and at the biggest stage of them all in youth international soccer, the sight of a game in Olympic Stadium was a disgrace. The stadium is closed for four months every winter as the fire marshal in Montreal has concerns about the roof not being able to support snow loads for goodness' sake!

The US will square off against perennial power Brazil in Ottawa on July 6. They sit on top of Group D after 2 games and with a +5 goal differential, one would think a tie would be enough for the US to advance to the knockout stages of this tournament. A loss may not even eliminate the US as long as the scoreline is kept close. Right now, the US is in the driver's seat and if they can hold on and win the group, they would play a third-place team in the next round, improving their chances of moving further in the tournament.

Group D Standings (after 2 matches):
1. USA (4 pts, +5 GD)
2. Brazil (3 pts, 0 GD)
3. Poland (3 pts, -4 GD)
4. South Korea (1 pt, -1 GD)