U.S. into U-20 World Cup quarterfinal

The United States under-20 national team staged an improbable comeback in extra time to score a 2-1 win over Uruguay in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

The young Yanks struggled in the first half, as Uruguayan pressure and piss-poor officiating made for a slow go at it in the first 45 minutes. The U.S. faired slightly better in the second half but surrendered a goal in 74th minute, as Luis Suarez capitalized on U.S. keeper Brian Perk spill to give Uruguay the 1-0 lead. But just three minutes from time, Danny Szetela took down a loose ball from a corner kick and crossed to Andre Akpan whose defender, Mathias Cardaccio, slid in and inadvertendly struck it past his keeper.

The own goal leveled the match and it would be a full 17 minutes of extra time before the most unlikeliest of heroes would find the back of the net for the U.S. Michael Bradley, coach's son and nepotism posterboy, finished off a Freddy Adu corner that somehow found him unmarked at the near post, following a blocked shot by Julian Valentin. 2-1 to the US of A and that's how it would finish.

At the final whistle, the Uruguayan players continued to demonstrate the sportsmanship that had guided them throughout the match by starting a shoving match with the U.S. players. Bradley became apoplectic, and had to be talked down by both coach Thomas Rongen and captain Freddy Adu. The scene was a perfect ending to poorly officiated match by match ref Ravshan Irmatov (UZB), who had absolutely no control over the match from the opening whistle and handed out a ridiculous four yellows cards to the U.S. just in the extra time, while ignoring the fouling and diving by the Uruguyans for much of the game. One foul in particular led to the early substitution of talented striker Jozy Altidore, who injured his calf and had to be subbed following a tackle from behind that wasn't even shown a caution.

The U.S. U-20s are into the quarterfinals, where they will face Austria on Saturday, July 14.

Scoring summary
URU – Luis Suarez 73.
USA – Own goal (Mathias Cardaccio) 87.
USA – Michael Bradley 107+.

Lineups:
USA: 18-Brian Perk; 5-Nathan Sturgis, 14-Athony Wallace, 16-Julian Valentin, 19-Tony Beltran (17-Gabe Ferrari, 81); 6-Michael Bradley, 7-Danny Szetela, 11-Freddy Adu (c); 8-Robbie Rogers, 12-Josmer Altidore (20-Andre Akpan, 51), 15 – Sal Zizzo (10-Dax McCarty, 54)

URU: 12-Yonaton Irrazabal; 3-Martin Cacere (10-Gerardo Vonder Putten, 117), 5-Roman Marcel, 6-Gary Kagelmacher, 7-Mathias Cardaccio, 8-Damian Suarez (c), 13-Juan Manuel Diaz, 14-Hugo Arismendi, 17-Juan Surraco (11-Elias Figueroa, 108), 18-Luis Suarez (19-Tabare Viudez, 83)

Misconduct Summary:
URU – Hugo Arismendi (caution) 19.
USA – Michael Bradley (caution) 24.
USA – Anthony Wallace (caution) 105.
USA – Julian Valentin (caution) 109.
USA – Freddy Adu (caution) 110.
USA – Gabriel Ferrari (caution) 112.
URU – Roman Marcel (caution) 117.
URU – Mathias Cardaccio (caution) 118.

Patriot of the Pitch© : Michael Bradley

Click here for the FIFA U-20 World Cup bracket