Guatemala Defeats U.S. To To Deny Americans U-20 World Cup Spot
CONCACAF determines their entrants into the FIFA U-20 World Cup in their CONCACAF Championships with their four semifinalists getting the confederations four World Cup slots. That means that when the United States and Guatemala squared off in Wednesday night’s quarterfinal it was for a spot in the World Cup. Well, it is the underdog Guatemalans who will head to Colombia for this summer’s U-20 World Cup after they defeated the heavily favored Americans, 2-1, in front of a vocal crowd at Estadio Mateo Flores in Guatemala City.
By the time the match came to an end, the U.S. were out of the World Cup and complaining about the referee. The referee was poor, making several mind-boggling decisions and awarding just three minutes of extra time in a half that had two goals and more than a half dozen Guatemalans rolling around injured, including one stretched off, but it didn’t matter. The Americans had been beaten. They failed to capitalize on their chances and looked leaky at the back. Of course, the point of youth teams is to develop talent and not win matches so any overreaction to a single youth match is beyond laughable, albeit inevitable.
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