JEONJU, Korea Republic (June 4, 2017) – The U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team gave a sterling account of themselves, fighting through the final whistle in a 2-1 extra time defeat to Venezuela in the Quarterfinals of the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Korea Republic.
After 90 minutes of high-intensity but scoreless soccer, the U.S. U-20s found themselves down 2-0 late in extra time after goals from Venezuela’s Adalberto Peñaranda and Nahuel Ferraresi in the 96th and 116th minutes, respectively. However, Jeremy Ebobisse rescued hope for the USA, scoring the first goal against Venezuela to this point in the tournament in the 117th minute, but a valiant U.S. side couldn’t tack on another in the waning moments to send the match to PKs.
The U.S. grew into the match slowly as Venezuela came charging out of the gate, forcing a diving save from U.S. goalkeeper Jonathan Klinsmann in the opening minute of play and a second fine stop after a quarter of an hour had gone by. The U.S. stuck to its game plan and began to foray forward in search of its own chances only to see Sergio Córdova strike what would have been the opening goal of the game midway through the half; however his goal was correctly called back for offside after the Video Assistant Referee took a second look at the play.
The second half opened much as the first had with Venezuela going close to taking the lead on an attempt from Ronaldo Chacon but, his headed shot from a corner kick thundered back off the bar and was cleared in the 48th minute. Córdova then crashed a second header off the bar moments after being stoned by Klinsmann as he bore in on goal. The U.S. settled down as the half wore on and nearly snatched a late winner when captain Erik Palmer-Brown beat La Vinotinto goalkeeper Wuilker Farinez to a cross only to see his headed shot flash just inches outside the right post with the final play of regulation.
This is the second consecutive U-20 World Cup that had coach Tab Ramos has guided the U.S. to the Quarterfinal stage. Although the U.S. is headed home, the players do so after tying multiple program records and winning arguably the toughest group of the tournament.
