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MONTREAL — The U.S. coach admitted that his team was fortunate to escape with one point from a 1-1 draw with South Korea in its Group D opener Saturday in the Fédération Internationale de Football Association under-20 World Cup.
Considering that Poland had upset Brazil in the other Group D match on Saturday, the U.S. team needed to do something because moving into the second round from this group was not going to be easy. That was pretty well a given from the outset.
Yesterday, the U.S. team, led by Freddy Adu's three goals, did what it had to do and more. Not only did it secure a valuable three points with Brazil the next opponent, the United States humiliated Poland 6-1 before part of the announced crowd of 35,801 at Olympic Stadium. The attendance was better at the second game between South Korea and Brazil.
The victory was so complete that it is hard to remember that Poland scored first, in the fifth minute.
Freddy Adu celebrates after scoring his second goal against Poland. (Paul Chiasson/CP)
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Danny Szetela tied the game in the ninth minute, his first of two. Josmer Altidore scored the other two goals. Midfielder Sal Zizzo deserves some credit, especially for his work in setting up Adu's second goal.
"For us to get a win, we needed to do a few things better, emotionally, from an intensity standpoint," coach Thomas Rongen said. "We had better focus and our spacing [was better] and we were a lot sharper on the ball today. We knew we were capable of playing much better than we showed in the first game."
When Poland upset the Brazilians on Saturday, they accomplished it by playing with 10 men for much of the game. Krzysztof Krol picked up a red card 27 minutes into the game shortly after Grzegorz Krychowiak scored what proved to be the game's only goal.
Because of the red card, Poland was without Krol, who plays for Real Madrid, for yesterday's game, and perhaps the effort playing such a skilled side while short a man took its toll yesterday.
Polish coach Michal Globisz thought so, blaming the short recovery time for the way his players faded as the game progressed almost to the point they appeared to give up.
"The physical recovery was not sufficient with the two days between matches," Globisz said.
As for Adu, Globisz said there was a plan to mark him, and defender Adam Danch was a big part of that. "Obviously it did not work," the coach said.
He said the U.S. team was "superior technically, physically and tactically" and that pretty well sums it up.
Poland scored on a left-footed shot from Dawid Janczyk, who was put into the clear by Patryk Malecki's through ball.
That put the U.S. team into a desperate situation immediately but it was up to the task.
In the ninth minute, Szetela's header into the top right corner tied the game.
"That's what I love about this team," Adu said, "it's the fact that we're going to fight to the end."
"When we play well as a team, some individuals will shine," Rongen said. "Freddy happened to be the guy to do it today."
The United States took the lead on Adu's left-footed kick that went in off the left post in the 20th minute. Seven minutes before that goal, Adu had forced a save from Polish goalkeeper Bartosz Bialkowski.
Adu scored again just before the whistle to end the first half with a left-footed shot high into the upper left corner of the goal after Zizzo set him up with a brilliant run from about midfield, down the right sideline as he fought off defenders and then cut into the penalty area, where he fed an unmarked Adu.
The United States kept it going in the second half with Szetela scoring in the 51st minute.
Poland hit a post in the 61st minute.
Altidore's goal came in the 70th minute. Adu scored again in the 85th minute, breaking through slack defending with a nifty effort.
