Youth National Teams: U.S. U-20s remain in hunt

The United States U-20 national team dropped a 3-1 decision to a skillful Japanese team today, April 8, but with three points remain in a good position to advance into the second round of the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship. The final group standings will be determined following Sunday’s doubleheader (April 11) in Bauchi, Nigeria, as the U.S. face group leader Cameroon (11 a.m. ET) and Japan confronts England (2 p.m. ET) at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium. The top two teams in each of the six, Nigeria ’99 groups, as well as the top four third place teams, will advance to the Round of 16. The U.S. are currently in third in the group, trailing Japan on goal differential. “Technically, the Japanese were a very good team and deserved the win today [April 8],” said U.S. head coach Sigi Schmid. “We gave them too much space to work and in this type of competition you cannot afford to give space. They did very well with their offensive chances.” Japan took the lead after eleven minutes when a Japanese combination in midfield resulted in the ball reaching the foot of midfield ace Shinji Ono. From 25 yards away and to the right of the American goal, Ono curled a dangerous ball into the penalty area. U.S. midfielder Nick Downing, retreating on the play, inadvertently redirected the driven ball past U.S. ‘keeper Nick Rimando and into the net. U.S. forwards Taylor Twellman and Chris Albright nearly stole a goal in the 20th minute, as Twellman intercepted a pass out the of the Japanese defense and dished to Albright at the top of the area. Albright did well to get off a quick shot with a defender draped on his back, but his right-footer went over the crossbar. The best U.S. chance of the first half, though, came off the head of Albright, who skipped a header from a throw-in towards the Japanese goal. Japan’s netminder,Yula Minami, stretched backwards to barely tip the ball over the bar. Japan doubled the lead in the 52nd minute, and once again it was Ono who made the critical pass. The Japanese midfielder played a long penetrating pass through the heart of the American defense to a sprinting Naohiro Takahara. The speedy Takahara ran onto the ball and hit an 18-yard bullet into the left corner of the goal. The U.S. pulled a goal back on 73 minutes through Ryan Futagaki, a fourth-generation Japanese-American who grew up in Southern California. A corner kick from the right side was cleared out of the penalty area directly to Futagaki. The 5-foot-5 Futagaki, who moved to the wide left position after halftime, controlled the ball, slipped past a charging defender and unleashed a ferocious, 16-yard, right-footer that tucked into the right corner, past Minami. The goal sparked a furious U.S. offensive assault, triggered primarily by Albright and second-half substitutes Jamar Beasley, John Thorrington and Shaun Tsakiris. Albright did well in the 79th and 81st minutes to get behind the defense and serve dangerous crosses into the penalty area, where on both occasions Minami came off his line to snag the ball. But in the 85th minute, Japan put the game out of reach for good. Tomoyuki Sakai threaded a pass to Mituso Ogasawara inside the area on the left side. Ogasawara took one touch towards the endline and hit a solid, left-footer that gave Rimando no chance at the far post. “I’m still very confident that we will advance to the second round,” said Schmid. “Cameroon will be a very difficult opponent, but we know that our goals in this tournament ride on playing well on Sunday. We will be ready.”

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