U.S. U-20s fail opening test against Germany

SUEZ, Egypt -- For at least 45 minutes Saturday night in Suez, it seemed as if the US U-20 national team was the short-handed side, rather than its German rivals. The Germans were playing without a number of their biggest stars at the U-20 level, but they made easy work of their opening match with the Americans, with two first-half goals that put it out of reach quickly for a 3-0 victory.

Nasser Nasser/AP

Brian Ownby, center, and the U.S. midfield were comprehensively outplayed by their German counterparts.

Pressed for fit options, American coach Thomas Rongen started the match with some surprises himself. The relatively inexperienced duo of Brian Ownby and Dillon Powers started in the heart of midfield, and Gerson Mayen began at right back in place of an injured Sheanon Williams, with captain Kyle Davies playing wide on the left instead of his usual centerback spot.

"We went with 11 that we felt were the sharpest, the best at this particular junction of their season, plus our scouting report against Germany, and the players that had performed best in our exhibition games," said Rongen.

The choices didn't pay dividends for the Americans in the first half, as they were overrun by an organized and powerful German attack that came at them in waves. Powers, a college freshman at Notre Dame, and Ownby, a sophomore at the University of Virginia, looked particularly overmatched by the skill of the German team of Bundesliga reserves.

"This clearly wasn't a good day for us," Rongen said. "Give Germany credit, they're Euro champs. It was a long and hard match, we were prepared for that. Maybe we gave Germany too much respect."

The Germans had a number of chances to take the lead before they actually did so. When the opening goal came at the half-hour mark, it was from a penalty that the Japanese referee had little trouble signaling after a senseless tackle in the box by Ownby. The second goal came two minutes later, when German captain Florian Jungwirth, reinstated by FIFA before the match despite a red card in the European qualifying final, had time to settle a corner kick in the area and fire past goalkeeper Brian Perk to double the advantage.

"We obviously didn't play too well but we weathered the first 20 minutes," said Perk. "We were a little unlucky with the PK, we took two goals in two minutes, and when that happens, it's really tough to come back."

Coming back was also difficult because the Americans showed little offensive initiative, and looked disorganized and hurried on defense, especially compared to the clinical Germans. That began to change in the second half with the replacement of Powers by Bryan Arguez. A Bundelsiga reserve himself at Hertha Berlin, Arguez added some poise on the ball and distribution that helped the Americans link the midfield to the attack.

"Everybody can do better. There was some careless loss of possession," Arguez said of the first half, adding that the coach called on him to give the midfield more possession. "That's what he was expecting. We needed more confidence on the ball, attacking."

Arguez's insertion sparked a second half improvement that saw the Americans nearly cut into the German advantage on a number of occasions, before conceding the back-breaking third goal with 18 minutes to play.

"Everything was better. Our passing was better, our spacing was better," Perk said. "We have to take the second half and translate it into the next few games, and that's going to be our attitude. I'd say they were probably the better side on the night, but it was not a 3-0 game."

Player ratings (scale of 1-10)

Brian Perk, GK, 4 -- The Americans needed the UCLA Bruin to come up big at the back, and overall he failed to do so on Saturday. Perk looked confident calling the defensive shots, but admitted he should have done better on the Germans' second and third goals.

Kyle Davies, D, 5 -- The captain played only 35 minutes before leaving the field with an injury. During his time on the field, he managed to keep the Germans from overrunning the left flank, but they were ahead 2-0 nonetheless when he was subbed out. His status for Cameroon will be evaluated Sunday.

Gale Agbossoumonde, D, 4 -- A tough effort, but marred by moments of indecision and too many giveaways, one of which almost led to a German goal in the first half. Was partially at fault for the third German goal, which both he and Perk had a chance to clear before it reached the German attacker.

Ike Opara, D, 4.5 -- Like his partner in central defense, Opara was generally solid but made a few errors which the Germans were quick to jump on, including some fouls too close to the American area. The pair in the middle will need to pick up their games a notch against Cameroon.

Gerson Mayen, D, 5 -- Filled in decently for the injured Sheanon Williams on the right side of the defense, a position the Chivas USA man is not completely used to playing. Spent much of the night backpedalling, but held up reasonably and began to get into the attack a bit in the second half.

Dillon Powers, M, 3.5 -- Did about as well as would be expected from such a young and inexperienced player. Turned the ball over occasionally but avoided egregious errors. Overall, though, Powers was most conspicuous by his absence.

Brian Ownby, M, 3 -- A disastrous performance overall for the University of Virginia man, who managed to get himself in the right place at the right time on several occasions with his speed, but could never muster many productive touches. Remarkably, Ownby remained on the field for all 90 minutes despite his ineffectiveness.

Jared Jeffrey, M, 5.5. -- The Club Brugge man was one of the high points of the day for the Americans. Controlled the ball well and looked dangerous in the attack, especially from range, after Arguez gave him someone to team with in the midfield.

Brek Shea, F, 5.5 -- Suffered in the first half to find the ball consistently, and was forced to track back deep into the American end to help out on defense and get his touches. Put in a workmanlike effort going forward, and showed flashes of potential, though his crossing from the wings was not quite up to snuff.

Mikkel Diskerud, F, 5 -- Made some good individual plays, and nearly set up one goal, then almost scored another. But Saturday was not Diskerud's best night, as he often looked lost in the middle of the attack with a midfield behind him that couldn't get the ball up the field. Was subbed off when the Americans looked the most dangerous.

Tony Taylor, F, 4.5. -- Taylor didn't have much chance to use his speed, as he was starved for service the whole night, but looked dangerous when he did get involved in the attack, and put in a full 90 minutes. He'll see better days in Egypt.

Subs

Jorge Flores, D, 5 -- A workmanlike performance on the right side of the defense in place of Davies was marred a bit when he was beaten down the wing on the Germans' third goal. Rongen can feel confident about putting him back there for the next match if Davies can't go.

Bryan Arguez, M, 5.5. -- Changed the game a bit with his presence and confidence. The midfielder added some stability to the midfield and allowed Jeffrey to push into the attack. He nearly had an assist on a smooth pass to Diskerud around the area, which would have put the Americans back in the game.

Dilly Duka, M, 5.5. -- His 15 minutes of action made you wonder why he wasn't on from the start. Confident over the ball and with some good ideas offensively, Duka may be the missing link between the midfield and front line.

Brent Latham covers U.S. soccer for ESPNsoccernet. Based in Dakar, Senegal, he also covers West Africa for Voice of America radio and can be reached at brentlatham@ymail.com.