Fourth place.

The U.S. U20 WNT finished its experience at the 2016 U20 Women’s World Cup with a thud, losing 1-0 to Japan in the third-place game to bow out of the tournament. The U.S., which had been cut out of the main draw with a 2-1 loss to North Korea, was out-classed for a fifth time in six games here. And this was undoubtedly the most egregious example.

Despite the one-goal margin, the U.S. was out-shot by an astronomical margin of 29-3, and the Americans managed to go the entire match without registering a single shot on goal. Japan scored a well-deserved goal with five minutes to play in regulation and the U.S. dropped a game it had no claim on winning. They troubled Japan's back line in spurts with their speed, but Japan routinely pinged the ball around the U.S.'s box as the Americans looked for any avenue into the Japanese third. There weren't many.

The loss ended the U.S. experience at the tournament, which has been mostly without note. The U.S. did manage to progress out of its group and made the semifinal, but it finished the tournament by being out-shot three-to-one. The U.S. largely failed to impose itself on any of its evenly-matched games and its tactical naiveté shone through on a number of its decisions.

On Saturday, the third-place game tailed away from the U.S. early.

U20 coach Michelle French abandoned her earlier tactical game plan for a more basic 4-4-2, with Ashley Sanchez and Jessie Scarpa manning the two positions atop the tree. This pushed Mallory Pugh, the best player in the history of the program, into an awkward position at right mid and effectively removed her from the match’s run of play. When Katie Cousins left for Savannah DeMelo late, the U.S. more or less surrendered all pretense of keeping the ball in search of a goal.

As it was, the U.S. finished by being out-shot 105-38 in this tournament. The U.S. produced some brief moments of danger on Saturday through their prevailing individual ability, but never much of sustained value.

Part of the issue was beyond tactics, obviously, since Japan was so much better that that it out-shot the U.S. by a stunning margin of 29 to 3. But perhaps the more shocking statistic was that the U.S. didn’t manage to put a single shot on Japan’s goal, which was perhaps a sign that the creative engine wasn’t working. Late on, when the U.S. needed a goal most, French subbed on midfielder Savannah DeMelo, deployed her up top next to Scarpa, moved Sanchez back to right mid and made Pugh a central midfielder in a 4-4-2. Needless to say, it didn’t work.

The question is merely what happens next. The U.S. looked unprepared for the level of the tournament, and whether or not the fault lay in the coaching staff, the development apparatus or some of both, the federation needs to take a long look at the road that brought us here.

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