The Yanks progressed as Group B winners with a 100% record of three wins from three games,
Match preview
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Despite enduring a dissatisfactory build-up to the tournament with three winless friendly games in March, perfection was the name of the game for the USA during the group stage, where Mikey Varas's side topped their section without dropping a point or conceding a goal.
Ecuador, Fiji and Slovakia all fell to the Yanks' superiority in Group B, which ended with Cade Cowell and Niko Tsakiris netting either side of the half-time whistle in a 2-0 win over the latter on Friday, and the resilient USA hold the esteemed honour of being the only team to keep three clean sheets in their three group games.
In the wake of their near-flawless exploits in Group B, optimism is rife within the Stars and Stripes faithful that their side can enjoy a deep run into the tournament end their recent quarter-final hoodoo, as the USA have been eliminated in the last eight in the 2015, 2017 and 2019 editions.
Of course, there is no guarantee that Varas's men will be present in the quarters, but not since 2005 have the Yanks been eliminated at the last-16 stage, and a fourth-placed finish in 1989 remains their best-ever finish at the Under-20 World Cup.
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Team News
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As well as posting a convincing win over Slovakia, the USA did not sustain any injury concerns or even a single yellow card in that matchday three success, leaving Varas with a full complement of players to choose from here.
The Yanks boss unsurprisingly made several changes from the side that strolled past whipping boys Fiji on Friday, and the majority of those starters ought to hold their places here, as Chelsea's Gabriel Slonina acts as the last line of defence.
Tsakiris's goal off the bench last time out may give Varas some food for thought in the middle, but Jack McGlynn is a more likely candidate to force his way back into the engine room alongside Obed Vargas and skipper Daniel Edelman.
USA Under-20s possible starting lineup:
Slonina; Che, Wynder, Craig, Gomez; McGlynn, Edelman, Vargas; Wolff, Luna, Cowell
3rd Group A/C/D possible starting lineup:
Lineup here
We say: USA Under-20s X-Y 3rd Group A/C/D
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Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a USA Under-20s win with a probability of 80.1%. A draw had a probability of 13.2% and a win for New Zealand Under-20s had a probability of 6.71%.
The most likely scoreline for a USA Under-20s win was 2-0 with a probability of 12.83%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-0 (11.43%) and 1-0 (9.6%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (6.27%), while for a New Zealand Under-20s win it was 0-1 (2.35%). The actual scoreline of 4-0 was predicted with a 7.6% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that USA Under-20s would win this match.