- Ben McCormick

Yesterday, word came down that the USSF has decided not to renew Thomas Rongen’s contract, which expires at the end of the year. Tab Ramos takes the helm of the U-20s for their trip to France next month, though he hasn't officially named interim coach. With that in mind, here is a quick rundown of some of the possible domestic candidates to take over as U-20 National Team steward:

- Ben McCormick

The United States U-20 National Team lost to Guatemala in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF U-20 Championship and will not participate in this summer’s U-20 World Cup for the first time in eight tournaments.


Now take a deep breath. In…and out…


It’s not that big of a deal.

- Ben McCormick

At the start of the 2011 CONCACAF U-20 Championship, much of the oft-hyped talent on the US squad was relatively unknown to the US Soccer fan base. Through the group stage, some players have dazzled, some have fizzled and the jury remains out on others. Here is a look at what we know and what we are yet to find out about this cycle's edition of the USA U-20 national team:

Editor's Note: MFUSA is happy to welcome Ben McCormick, a high school senior from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to the fold.  A supporter of Newcastle United and the USMNT, Ben will matriculate to Marquette University in the fall where he plans to major in journalism. Follow Ben on Twitter. 


- Ben McCormick

When Thomas Rongen released his 20-man roster for the CONCACAF U-20 Championships, he wasn’t a happy man. Despite being what some consider the deepest squad in the history of American U-20s, the omissions were glaring. Missing from the squad were Juan Agudelo, Josh Gatt and Alex Zahavi, all considered key cogs of Rongen’s team. Agudelo’s omission is understandable, with the full US national team’s striker pool extremely thin. Gatt and Zahavi, on the other hand, are victims of what is becoming an annoying (and potentially costly) re-occurrence for the United States: clubs refusing to release their players.

The US Under-20 team, in Egypt for the U-20 World Cup, went down to South Korea today 3-0. The Americans never really threatened their opponents, and while they maintained possession for decent stretches of the match, had nothing to scare the Koreans in the attacking third of the field.

After rebounding with a 4-1 win over Cameroon in their second group match, a win which came on the heels of a drubbing at the hands of Germany in the opener, today's result is extremely disappointing. The young Americans seemed disinterested at best, poor at worst, and were certainly not mentally prepared to proactively punch their ticket to the round of sixteen.

While there isn't as much quality in the US team as in year's past, the talent on the field could hardly be called incapable. The problems, beginning with a toothless attack that seemed lost for ideas in the Korean's end of the field, were overwhelming. Undisciplined in almost every aspect of the game, the Americans consistently allowed South Korea to dictate play; on more than one occasion, US players responded hesitantly to Korean moves forward, resulting in defenders scrambling back to recover.

The Koreans quickness appeared to be too much for the Americans, though I'm not entirely convinced it should have been. How much of the sloppiness that the US exhibited is on the players and how much should be laid directly at the feet of Thomas Rongen is debatable; but the Americans showed against Cameroon that when properly motivated and organized, they could play well enough to give themselves a chance to win. They just didn't do so against South Korea, despite the match being "must-win" for them to advance (as of this writing, they still have an extreme outside shot to advance as a third place team, but it's slim).

I honestly wasn't sure of what to make of this team headed into the tournament. Perhaps, like many, I was hopeful that the players I knew would lead the team while a few I didn't would emerge as solid contributors. Still, to say we're disappointed might be a bit of an overstatement. if you're intimately familiar with the players that Thomas Rongen had at his disposal and you believe this team underachieved, I certainly can't argue with you; but I didn't see enough there to truly believe that the US could threaten anything more than a decent showing. Of course, after the streak of knockout round qualification that the US has put together in this tournament over the years, we at the least expected to get out of the group.

That possibility still exists, if just barely, but it's not the kind of advancement that would fill us with pride. The Americans, if they do slip through, don't truly deserve to be beyond the group stages. Ultimately, despite the poor play that plagued the Americans against Germany and South Korea, Rongen must get some of the blame. Getting beaten by a clearly superior opponent is one thing; but since the Koreans, and possibly the weakened Germans, were not well beyond the US, tactics and direction are at the top of the list for reasons the Americans find themselves where they do.

Overreacting to this setback, two years after the US had a strong showing in the same tournament, by deriding the American youth program as failing would be ridiculous. The United States has still not progressed to the point of producing strong under-20 players cycle after cycle (whether or not we should have by now is a different argument); while 2009 is a setback, the US could just as easily take a massive step forward in 2011.

If you watched the game today, share your thoughts. Who do you blame the poor tournament on? Rogren, the players, or the system in general?