It wasn’t always the prettiest brand of soccer, but the U.S. U20 Men’s National Team is through to the 2015 World Cup in New Zealand.

A first half header Saturday from Ben Spencer put the U.S. ahead of El Salvador to stay, and substitute Paul Arriola added insurance in the 68th minute off a deflection to set the cement on a 2-0 victory. The win came in the CONCACAF qualifying knockout round and sent the U.S. to the World Cup at El Salvador's expense. The U.S. finished the tournament 4-1-1 and with a string of four consectuive shutouts. Honduras also qualified Saturday after topping Guatemala in the earlier game. Panama and Mexico qualified earlier in the week as group winners.

The U.S. certainly didn’t get through on style points, but in the sense that the tournament is pass/fail, it managed. Here are three main points on the victory that kept the U.S. from missing its second World Cup in the last three cycles.

— After the disaster in 2011 that led to the U.S.’s only missed U20 World Cup since 1997, the team stabilized and fought through adverse conditions to land right side up. And adverse they were. Throughout the tournament, the U.S. struggled at times to overcome the chewed field and muggy conditions, which only intensified when a rain shower slicked the field in the first half on Saturday. The field in particular was a high hurdle to clear. Considering it was showing signs of degradation during the first day of the tournament, a steady two weeks of pounding turned it into green mush by Saturday.

That made aesthetically pleasing soccer nearly impossible against El Salvador, which resorted to kicking and fouling late in the game. Midfielders Romain Gall and Emerson Hyndman were both pulled from the match for precautionary and fitness reasons, and El Salvador was assessed a straight red on a kick-out against Bradford Jamieson.

The condition of the field didn’t help matters. Passes often took hops several inches off the playing surface, and one-on-one situations routinely turned into moments that looked more like a Benny Hill segment than soccer. In that respect, this game was hardly a barometer for much of anything, let alone ideal playing style. Banging over-the-top balls took precedent over anything through the midfield, and the U.S.’s two goals followed suit. Spencer’s header came off a ricochet off the crossbar from a free kick that arced right to his head, and Arriola’s was a deflection inside the six that trickled into the net. But the final score makes no distinction.

— The moment of the tournament for the U.S. might’ve belonged to keeper Zack Steffen, who’s had little to do throughout this entire event. The American back line completed a run of four consecutive shutouts and will enter the World Cup with a shutout streak of 372 minutes. And through it all Steffen hasn’t been asked to make many, if any, saves out of his comfort zone. A second-half penalty forced Steffen into a rare spotlight, and he didn’t shrink from the opportunity.

In the 52nd minute, the ref whistled for a bizarre off-ball foul on the U.S. in its own box despite the lack of any discernible contact. Jose Villavicencio took the spot kick and lifted it high and to his left, but Steffen got both palms to it and knocked it wide. It was a spectacular save by any measure, and it preserved a 1-0 lead that had suddenly looked shaky. Had that kick sailed in, it would’ve been an entirely different game. So while he had little to do for most of the tournament, Steffen was big when it counted. 

— The U.S. has some soul-searching to do before the World Cup cranks up on May 30. While it qualified in the end without too much drama on the decisive day, the team came dangerously close to missing the World Cup entirely. Far closer than most expected. The El Salvador game notwithstanding, the U.S. can expect to face teams with considerably more individual talent than the likes of Panama, which deservedly beat the U.S. 1-0 on the second group day. So it bears mentioning that the U.S. roundly lost to the only World Cup-bound team it faced in Jamaica. Not good.

In terms of form, this team could show up in New Zealand and look considerably more cohesive. That happens relatively frequently. But the stress creeps in when you realize that this was supposed to be the easier leg of the journey. It gets tougher from here. In 2013, the U.S. was drawn into an absurd group and sandwiched blowout losses to Spain and Ghana around a draw against eventual champ France and talisman Paul Pogba. While the U.S. will almost assuredly have an easier group this year, Panama will be one of the weaker teams in the field. Chilling thought.

Still, the U.S. did its job. By surviving a weatherbeaten field, swampy weather and a spate of scrappy CONCACAF opposition, the U.S. advanced to its 14th U20 World Cup. In 1989, the U.S. enjoyed its best ever run by getting through to the semifinal before finishing fourth. Can this team make history? The answer is nearly four months away.