Wins and Wins and Wins for the US

The U.S. is on a hot streak right now. Men's, Women's, Senior Teams, Youth Teams, everything is coming up red, white and blue. Here's a rundown of the past couple days in case you've missed it.

Women's World Cup

Megan Rapinoe scored on either side of intermission and Christen Press delivered the game winner as the U.S. defeated Australia 3-1 in their opening match of the World Cup. Hope Solo added five saves and Alex Morgan turned in an 11-minute shift off the bench as the U.S. jumped to the top of Group D. Next up for the Americans, a showdown against their former coach, Pia Sundhage, who now coaches her native Sweden. The two sides will face off on Friday night in Winnipeg. Sweden drew with Nigeria 3-3 in their opener after blowing leads of 2-0 and 3-2.

U-20 World Cup

Rubio Rubin scored the lone goal of the match and goalkeeper Zack Steffen saved a late penalty by Jarlan Barrera as the U.S. upended Colombia 1-0 and advanced the World Cup quarterfinals. MLSers Matt Miazga (NYRB), Kellyn Acosta (FC Dallas), Marky Delgado (FC Toronto) and Bradford Jamieson (LA Galaxy) all started for the U.S., however Jamieson left 11 minutes in with an injury and Acosta was ejected following his second yellow card in the 81st minute. Jordan Allen (Real Salt Lake) and Tommy Thompson (San Jose) both made appearances off the bench for the U.S. Next up for the U.S. is Serbia who edged out Hungary 2-1 in extra time. Serbia won Group D with a 2-1-0 record outscoring their opponents 4-1. Six different players have scored for the Serbians so far in the tournament.

U-23 Toulon Tournament

The U.S. capped off a successful run with a 2-1 win over England to take third place in the prestigious Toulon Tournament. The two U.S. goals both came by way of the penalty spot with Alonso Hernandez scoring in the first half and Benji Joya, who spent part of the 2014 season on loan to the Chicago Fire, scoring the game winner in the second. The third place finish tied for the best finish ever for the U.S. in the tournament tying the 1989 U.S. team that also finished in third, ironically also thanks to a win over England.

Men's National Team Friendly

Days after pulling off a stunning come-from-behind win over the Netherlands in Amsterdam, the U.S. Men were at it again doing the unthinkable and going toe-to-toe with Germany IN GERMANY, and coming away with a 2-1 win. The unlikely hero? Once again, for the second time in as many matches, Bobby Wood scored the game winner, this one on a blistering left-footed shot from outside the box that found the side netting at the far post. The U.S. also got a goal from New York City FC's Mix Diskerud who took a cross from Michael Bradley (Toronto FC) off his chest before flicking the equalizer past German keeper Ron-Robert Zieler. The U.S. men have now won three straight knocking off Mexico, the 3rd place team from the 2014 World Cup, and the 2014 World Cup Champions. Not a bad time to be clicking with the Gold Cup looming.

USMNT U-20 & U-23 Updates

U-23s 

Playing in the Toulon Tournament, the U.S. find themselves getting ready to play in the third place game against England after finishing in second place in Group A behind France, but ahead of the Netherlands, Costa Rica and Qatar. The U.S. is 2-2 in the tourney, but advanced ahead of the Netherlands on goal differential thanks to France's 4-0 win over the Oranje on Thursday. France will face Morocco for the title. Both the consolation match and the finals are set for Sunday. The U.S. has placed in the tournament just one other time when they finished third back in 1989. Here's a look at how the U.S. has fared so far:

L 3-1 vs France - Jordan Morris (1)
W 3-1 vs Netherlands - Jerome Kiesewetter (1), Alonso Hernández (1), Will Packwood (1)
L 2-1 vs Costa Rica - Fatai Alashe (1)
W 1-0 vs Qatar - Julian Green (1)

U-20s 

After opening the U-20 World Cup with wins over Myanmar and New Zealand, the U.S. had a chance to win their group with a win or draw against the Ukraine. Unfortunately, they didn't have an answer for Viktor Kovalenko (Shakhtar Donetsk) as he scored three times in a 3-0 win. Kovalenko now has five goals in the tournament. The U.S. now settles for second place in Group A, but is still on track to advance to the Round of 16. Around the tournament, there have been several surprises as big name countries Argentina and Mexico have already been eliminated from the competition. The U.S. will now face Colombia on June 10th. The Colombians finished second in Group C with a record of 1-1-1 defeating Qatar 1-0 before drawing 1-1 with Senegal and losing 3-1 to Portugal. Here's a look at how the U.S. has fared:

W 2-1 vs Myanmar - Maki Tall (1), Emerson Hyndman (1)
W 4-0 vs New Zealand - Bradford Jamieson (1), Hyndman (2), Paul Arriola (1), Rubio Rubin (1)
L 3-0 vs Ukraine

U.S. U-20s Win Again, Róchez Scores Twice for Honduras

Two games, two wins. The U.S. U-20s have clinched a spot in the knockout round of the U-20 World Cup after cruising to a 4-0 win over New Zealand. LA's Bradford Jamieson opened the scoring while Emerson Hyndman, Paul Arriola and Rubio Rubin all added goals in the rout. MLSers Matt Miazga (NYRB), Kellyn Acosta (FC Dallas), Marky Delgado (Toronto), and Jamieson (LA) all started for the U.S. while Tommy Thompson (San Jose) once again came in off the bench. Here's the highlights:

U.S. U-20s Open World Cup with Win

The U.S. U-20s fell behind early, but rallied for a 2-1 win over Myanmar in their World Cup Opener. After going down in the first ten minutes, the U.S. equalized on a goal from Maki Tall (Red Star F.C., France Ligue 2) following a set piece. Then shortly after half time they took the lead for good on a goal from Emerson Hyndman (Fulham, England). The match featured appearances from a number of MLS players including starters Matt Miazga (New York Red Bulls), Kellyn Acosta (FC Dallas), Marky Delgado (Toronto FC), Jordan Allen (Real Salt Lake) and substitutes Tommy Thompson (San Jose) and Bradford Jamieson IV (LA Galaxy). Next up for the U.S. is a match against host nation New Zealand on June 2nd. New Zealand drew with the Ukraine 0-0 in their opener.

U.S. Camps

Lots of action in U.S. camps around the globe this week as the U.S. U-20s, U-23s and Senior National Team are all prepping for matches. Here's a quick summary of the rosters and upcoming schedules:

U-20s

With the U-20 World Cup just months away, the U.S. has put together a squad with only ten returning players from the recent CONCACAF U-20 Championship. Five MLS players will be in this camp led by returnees Bradford Jamieson IV (LA Galaxy), Conor Donovan (Orlando City), and Tommy Thompson. Among the newcomers are Sporting Kansas City's Erik Palmer-Brown, Toronto FC's Marco Delgado and Atlético Madrid's Dembakwi Yomba. Palmer-Brown, who's 17, has played only five minutes this season, but he's the only one of the MLS group who's seen the field in 2015. The U-20s will take on Tottenham's U-21s on Friday and England's U-21s on Sunday. The US U-20s will have one more camp in mid-April in Austria with friendlies scheudled against Qatar and Croatia.

Favorable Draw for U.S. U-20s

The U.S. U-20s will have a favorable draw in the 2015 World Cup as they will face New Zealand, Ukraine and Myanmar (or Laos if you're old school). This is a far cry from the 2013 tournament that pitted the U.S. against France (the eventual champions), Spain and Ghana (third place finishers). Needless to say the U.S. fared poorly going 0-2-1 and getting outscored 9-3 in 3 matches. Ironically, their one draw came against the French, while Ghana and Spain both enjoyed 4-1 wins against them. Anyhow, this time they should fare better as they get New Zealand (the host nation who didn't need to qualify), Myanmar (who 99% of Americans couldn't find on a map) and the Ukraine who needed a 94th minute goal to defeat England and advance to the UEFA U-19 Championship where they finished third in their group of four. The U.S. will open play against Myanmar on May 30th.

 

World Cup, Here We Come!

The U.S. U-20s survived a scare against El Salvador coming away with a 2-0 victory and in doing so, punched their ticket to the U-20 World Cup in New Zealand this summer. The U.S. opened the scoring in the first half when Ben Spencer headed home a rebound into an open net, but El Salvador wouldn't go down quietly. Keeper Zack Steffen denied Jose Villavicencio on a penalty kick in the second half to keep the game 1-0 before substitute Paul Arriola slotted home the insurance goal in the 68th minute.

So now the U.S. gets to prep for the June World Cup. It's an interesting list of countries that will be playing in it too. While South America and Africa are still yet to determine their representatives, powerhouses Spain, England, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, France, Belgium, Costa Rica and Australia all failed to qualify. Instead we'll see Myanmar, Qatar, Uzbekistan, Fiji, Hungary and Austria. Now there's still Germany and Portugal and Mexico and whoever comes out of South America and Africa, so it's not like there's nobody there, but you have to think that the U.S. should at least be competitive. The draw will be determined next month, stay tuned.

As for the rest of the CONCACAF U-20 tournament, Honduras defeated Guatemala 2-1 to clinch their World Cup berth while Mexico defeated Panama on penalties 4-2 to win the tournament. The U.S.'s Romain Gall shared the Golden Boot with Mexico's Hirving Lozano while Gall and defender Shaquell Moore both earned spots in the tournament's Best XI. Mexico (4) and Panama (5) filled out the rest of the roster.