U20 Men Clinch World Cup Berth

Down El Salvador, 2-0, Despite to Ejections

March 11, 2009

BACOLET, Tobago � The U.S. Under-20 Men�s National Team secured a place at the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup with a 2-0 win against El Salvador on Tuesday evening in their final Group A match of the CONCACAF U-20 Championship.

The 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup will be held from Sept. 24-Oct.16 in Egypt. It is a CONCACAF-record 12th World Cup appearance for the U.S. and the seventh straight.

First-half goals from Brek Shea and Tony Taylor combined with Brian Perk�s third shutout in as many games provided the U.S. with a 2-0-1 record in group play and the top spot in Group A. The U.S. advances to the semifinals where they will face the second-place finisher from Group B, which rounds out play on Wednesday night in Trinidad. The kickoff time for the semifinal will be determined after the conclusion of the Group B matches.

Boston�s Sheanon Williams started his third straight game at defender and played the entire 90 minutes.

Honduras, who defeated Jamaica 4-0 in the other Group A game of the night, clinched second place in the group and also advanced to the World Cup. The other two CONCACAF berths will come from the top two finishers in Group B.

The U.S. finished the game with only nine players after Shea received his second yellow card in the 60th minute. Shea's first yellow came in the 26th minute after a foul on Diego Jose Chavarria. In the 60th minute he was shown a second yellow when the referee judged him to have tripped up a Salvadorian player on a 50-50 ball. With only nine players against El Salvador�s full squad, the U.S. was able to hold on for the shutout victory. Jorge Flores was sent off in the 84th minute on a straight red card for a foul that occurred away from the ball.

�Even though we only needed a tie tonight, we wanted to be aggressive,� said U.S. Under-20 head coach Thomas Rongen. �We did a very good job in the first half of playing together and scoring the two goals. We played three tough games and put ourselves in a position to get to Egypt, which we did. We were able to determine our own fate in this game and I couldn�t be happier with this team as they showed a lot of character through some adversity tonight.�

A nice build-up in the run of play in the 30th minute gave the Americans the lead. Brian Ownby received a lofted pass from Dilly Duka, cut around his defender and struck a driven cross into the penalty area. Jared Jeffrey dummied the ball to force El Salvador goalkeeper Diego Cuelller to over-commit and leave his net wide open for Shea to easily place the pass inside the far post for the 1-0 lead.

Taylor entered the game in the 20th minute and five minutes before halftime he gave the U.S. a 2-0 lead. Peri Marosevic slipped a through ball behind El Salvador�s back line and into the box, providing the speedy Taylor time to take a touch and look up before slotting the ball inside the far post.

The two teams combined for 44 fouls during the game, but after the U.S. went down to 10 men in the 60th minute they were content to possess the ball and maintain the lead. With rough play continuing, the U.S. went down to nine men in the 84th minute and played with four defenders, four midfielders and no forwards to close out the game.

With 12 FIFA U-20 World Cup appearances, the U.S. has qualified more than any other CONCACAF nation, but has never won the regional crown.

U.S. UNDER-20 MEN�S NATIONAL TEAM MATCH REPORT

Scoring Summary:
USA � Brek Shea (Brian Ownby) 30th minute
USA � Tony Taylor (Peri Marosevic) 40th

Lineups:
USA: 24-Brian Perk; 4-Sheanon Williams, 22-Gale Agbossoumonde, 2-Kyle Davies (capt.),11-Jorge Flores; 15-Brian Ownby, 8-Jared Jeffrey, 10-Dilly Duka (5-Aaron Maund, 82), 23-Brek Shea; 9-Peri Marosevic (7-Danny Cruz, 69), 14-Sam Garza (13-Tony Taylor, 21)

SLV: 1-Diego Andres Cuellar, 2-Cesar Antonio Lopez, 2-Andres Eduardo Menendez (14-Herbert Arnoldo Sosa, 77), 4-Moises Xavier Garcia (capt.), 6-Juan Carlos Alas, 8-Diego Jose Chavarria, 9-Andres Alexander Flores, 11-Ricardo Jose Orellana (13-Irza Romel Santos, 66), 12-Mark Lester Blanco, 15-Fabricio Alfaro (17-Gilberto Arnulfo Baires, 70), 20-Jaime Enrique Alas

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