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After a dramatic come-from-behind 3-3 draw with Ecuador in their opening match, the United States under-20 men’s national team come up against an even tougher opponent in their second group match. Senegal are coming off a dominant 2-0 win over Saudi Arabia. While, the goals didn’t flow for them, the chances certainly did. The U.S. will do well to scratch another point out from this one as Senegal are a very talented and athletic side capable of both possessing the ball and hitting on the counter-attack.
The possession battle could be a very interesting one in this match as the U.S. dominated the ball to the tune of 61 percent in their opener. It would’ve been very interesting to see how that match had played out if the early onslaught from Ecuador hadn’t have been so successful. If Tab Ramos’ side can avoid a similar rotten start in this match, you have to like their chances to settle the match down and control it at their own pace.
A big blow for the Baby Yanks is the loss of Gedion Zelalem who has officially be ruled out for the rest of the tournament and appears to be set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines. You can expect Derrick Jones to replace him in the lineup as he did when Zelalem got injured. While the U.S. will miss Zelalem’s composure on the ball, Jones completely changed the run of play when coming into the match. His physical presence was a welcome addition next to Tyler Adams in the American midfield. He was able to link up play from the defenders to the attackers much better and the results showed it.
With several third-place group finishers advancing to the knockout stages and the U.S. picking up a point in their first match, this one isn’t technically a must-win, more of a “would really like to win.” We’ll see if they can do just that.
How to Watch
Kickoff Time: 7:00 a.m. ET, 4:00 a.m. PT
Available TV: FOX Sports 1, Telemundo
Available Streams: FOX Sports Go, fuboTV (free trial), Sling TV
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