U-17 World Cup 2011, United States Vs. Germany, Round of 16: Lineups

It’s easy to make too much of youth tournaments. That applies to U-21 and U-20 tournaments, but it really applies to U-17 tournaments, even at the World Cup. Simply put, it’s impossible to figure out what is going on with 16 and 17 year olds. You get some very strange results and that has been the case again in this U-17 World Cup with the United States being no exception.

When the U.S. lost to Uzbekistan in their second group stage match it looked like a disaster. I mean, really. Uzbekistan? It doesn’t look so bad now that Uzbekistan have won their group and defeated Australia 4-0 in the Round of 16 though. A draw to New Zealand followed the loss to Uzbekistan and combined with their opening win over the Czech Republic left the U.S. with four points and tied for second in their group with New Zealand. Every tiebreaker was also even, forcing the futures of the U.S. and New Zealand to be determined by a drawing of lots.

It was the Americans who were drawn and got to move onto the Round of 16. A bit of luck, sure, but they won’t complain. Now they get to prove themselves against Germany in their first knockout stage match. The Germans took a perfect nine points from their group stage matches and outscored their opponents 11-0 in those three matches. Led by Bayer Leverkusen’s Samil Yesed up top and Werder Bremen’s Levent Aycicek in the midfield, Germany will present the U.S. with quite the challenge.

Making things worse for the U.S. will be the absence of Marc Pelosi, their best player and captain who was shown a red card in their previous match. That means the onus will be on Alejandro Guido to run the midfield and get chances for Alfred Koroma, who has came off the bench earlier in the tournament, but has been dangerous in every match. In Pelosi’s absence, Koln’s Matt Dunn will wear the armband.

It’s the U.S. vs. Germany from Queretaro, Mexico in the Round of 16 of the U-17 World Cup. The winner will play the winner of the England vs. Argentina match, but both teams have to handle today’s match before they can look ahead to the quarterfinals. Kick off is at 4 pm EST and is televised on ESPNU (English) and Galavision (Spanish) in the United States.

United States: McIntosh, Amon, Carroll, Fehr, Acosta, E Rodriguez, Dunn, Guido, Arriola, M Rodriguez, Koroma

Germany: Vlachodimos, Weiser, Roecker, Guenter, Perrey, Yalcin, Can, Yesil, Aycicek, Ayhan, Ducksch