Three meals to take the tough Olympic victory of the U-23 in the Dominican Republic | Charles Boehm

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Two games, two victories and the course for such important semifinals.

In terms of results, the U.S. Under-23 men’s national team is checking all the boxes they need so far in the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament.

Sunday’s 4-0 win over the Dominican Republic brings them six points from six in Guadalajara, and with the playoffs in sight they can increase the usual intensity of a U.S.-Mexico match with a clear heart and calm nerves when theirs are found the Tri counterparts in their last game of Wednesday’s group stage.

Now, in terms of performance? This is a more nuanced story, as the young Yanks were hard to master until a young and well-prepared DR got tired in the final stages of the game. Let’s start here.

Polishing the stone

I use the term “grind” to describe this outing to the United States, which has some negative connotations: We all want to see loose, slippery football without sand on the marches, right? But in some cases, a power polisher can do a job, especially when you’re a regional giant who wants to assert your dominance against the little ones and the advanced.

Coach Jason Kreis said after the game that the DR threw a curveball in the United States with their 3-4-2-1 formation, “a completely different way than we’ve seen them play before,” and that the Caribbean discipline and intensity prevented Goliath for an hour, long enough to stir some nerves before Jackson Yueill’s instinctive finish broke the ice.

“I felt our boys were a little too cautious about it. I think our boys were more concerned with the transition than with creating moments of attack, ”said Kreis. “These two things add up to a great performance in the first half. But what we saw in the second half was much improved and we are pleased to come out with three more points.

Yueill doesn’t usually go that far. It turns out he wasn’t really number 6 in it, with Kreis explaining that Andres Perea was assigned the single pivot with Yueill and Johnny Cardoso in the eighth, and the end result aside, not everyone seemed completely comfortable. For the coach, “it seemed a little different just for the qualities of the players,” and I will agree with that.

Was this a mess of orders and trends, or a team that was finding its way, step by step, to solve problems in a tournament environment? Well, some players are sure to find their feet …

Make stock, low stock

There are no prizes for guessing Sunday’s big winner: Hassani Dotson, whose entry at 62 in Cardoso’s place coincided with the U.S.’s assertion of control and culminated in his two goals made by experts. The Minnesota United utilitarian also played a role in winning the game against Costa Rica; proves he is here for much more than his versatility and from there he should be the first starter.

Djordje Mihailovic gave in at the same time and seemed much more dangerous working from wide positions than he had as the center of the first game. Now Kreis will have to consider whether the CF Montréal man can be more useful off the bench, with tired defenders and, in general, more room to explode.

Elsewhere, right-back Julian Araujo was not as clean on the ball as he usually is and could have missed the opportunity to overtake Aaron Herrera for the starting role, while Henry Kessler proved to be a solid center-back option. , with little to no descent from Mauricio Pineda. Whether it was for lack of impact or the inability of his teammates to understand and reward his movement, Jesus Ferreira saw little of the ball and it seems likely to turn in favor of Sebastian Soto against Mexico.

The funny thing about it all is that Wednesday the 11th may not reflect the above at all. Although he claimed that the United States completely plans to win this match, Kreis has every reason to gather his resources in order to be completely bored for the next match after that: the forced semifinal against an enemy of the TBA of group B. And if not only qualifying but also winning this tournament directly is one of the main goals, as stated above, they may meet the Tri back to the final.

In praise of the persecuted

The DRs look for a last place in Group A, but that’s not the real story. Beginners of this event, with their youngest list, the Quisqueyanos they were impressive given the gulf between them and the US. Inter Miami home side Edison Azcona and his teammates showed no fear and executed their game plan effectively, even if their legs and minds dropped them in the final half hour.

MLS and USL explorers should take note of what is happening with Dominican football. Mexican manager Jacques Passy is a former member of CONCACAF overseeing a promising renewal of the program with limited resources; on Sunday he left the under-23s in charge of his assistant Jonathan Himelfarb in order to go out to prepare the senior squad for their next World Cup qualifiers.

“We played 60 minutes which I think were very good, they were at the level of the game, which is a challenge for us,” Himelfarb’s postpartum said. “If we look at our lineup, we have six players 20 years old or younger and this has become a tournament under the age of 24 for the pandemic and whatever, so maybe it’s the lack of experience, maybe we are a little out of pace. Mentally I think we can do better, but yes on the effort and the first 60 minutes I am very proud, and certainly the future is bright for the football association of the Dominican Republic. “

There will be more talent like Azcona rising among the ranks, both at home and among the large populations of Dominican-Americans in the United States. Many of his youngsters are finding opportunities in Spain’s lower divisions and hopefully some smart American or Canadian clubs will also be looking for diamonds.

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