Coming off a perfect group stage in which the United States went 3-0 to win their group, they must now contend with the classification stage. Alongside Honduras and Cuba, the U.S. must finish in the top 2 of their group after each team plays each other. One match in the group was played on Monday with Honduras demolishing Cuba, 7-1.
Los Catrachos are led by the tournament’s top scorer, Carlos Mejia, who has netted an impressive seven total goals in the four games they’ve played. Despite being very dangerous in attack, they were only runner-ups in their group. It should be an intense match-up today with the Americans, who have been rather dominant in this tournament.
After beating Mexico, 3-2, in their second group stage match to clinch top spot, the U.S. took the opportunity to player most of their reserves in their final group match, so they will be well rested for this. That’s in stark contrast to Honduras who played less than 48 hours ago.
While a win over Honduras would virtually clinch a spot in the U-17 World Cup, with the first tiebreaker being head-to-head records, Cuba would still be mathematically alive no matter what. Although, it would just be a formality since they sit at a -6 goal differential. Even if the U.S. lose today, a draw against Cuba on Friday would be enough to send them to the World Cup. This match kicks off at 4:30 p.m. ET and can be seen on Univision Deportes, YouTube, or Twitter.