It may have been a tremendously CONCACAF experience all the way around, but the U.S. U20 MNT dropped El Salvador on Friday to earn qualification for the U20 World Cup in South Korea later this year as well as a chance at its first ever U20 CONCACAF championship trophy.

In his first start of the tournament, Emmanuel Sabbi pushed in the first goal of the game, and Eryk Williamson added the ultimate match-winner on a wonderstrike en route to a 2-1 victory. El Salvador managed to pull one back in the 35th minute when Marvin Ayala pushed one in off keeper Jonathan Klinsmann’s gloves. That wrapped the scoring, and the final 15 minutes turned into a chippy back-and-forth struggle in which three players - two from El Salvador and Sebastian Saucedo on the U.S. side - were sent off with straight red cards.

The win assured the U.S. of the group win and pushed the Americans into the final, which was reinstated to enliven the tournament despite it being a ceremonial affair. The U.S. has finished atop groups before in years when this tourney didn’t have a final, but it’s never raised the trophy in the majority of years when it has. And thanks to a massive turnaround after losing to Panama to open the tournament, the U.S. has a chance.

The finale against Honduras is Sunday at 1 p.m. PT.

U.S. coach Tab Ramos’ lineup was largely unchanged from the 4-3-3 that got them here with a few notable caveats. With Danny Acosta out of the lineup, Auston Trusty was thrust into the role despite being a natural center back. He was at times awkward in space but wasn’t at fault for any major mistakes and did enough to keep the match in front. Ramos also sat Jeremy Ebobisse, who’d started the entire tournament, in favor of Sabbi at center forward. Ebobisse had an assist in his four appearance but never found the net.

Sabbi proved quick value and finished his first substantive chance of the tournament in the 18th minute. He took advantage of an out-of-place defender and stepped into the gap to create a one-on-one with the keeper he finished adroitly. Eryk Williamson, who again played as one of the two box-to-box central midfielders next to Tyler Adams, threaded in the assist.

Not 20 minutes later, Williamson had another moment of individual brilliance, but this one shone even brighter. Williamson uncorked a fantastical strike from 20 yards that crashed into the net off the far post and gave the U.S. a 2-0 lead. It was unquestionably the goal of the tournament from any team in Costa Rica and gave the U.S. the lead it’d need to see out the match.

And that was a good thing, because El Salvador poached one before the teams hit intermission. Josue Rivera, who gave the U.S. fits on Marlon Fossey’s side, angled inside and outside-footed a cross that Ayala did well to one-time past Klinsmann despite the Cal keeper getting both hands on the effort inside his reach.

But the Salvadorians couldn’t draw any closer.

The U.S. was without its captain and defensive focal point for the majority of the match. Erik Palmer-Brown was subbed off in the 31st minute for Saucedo, and Adams flipped back into the defensive midfield for the duration. It largely wasn’t a problem defensively - El Salvador didn’t have a ton of great chances - but it didn’t do much to calm the game down when things got heated late.

There were a handful of flashpoints in the last 15 minutes that threatened to tail the game out of control. Sabbi was wiped out by keeper Mario Martinez by the corner flag, sub Coy Craft was shoved head first into an endline advertisement hoarding and Saucedo got into an altercation that featured a slap-kick and a double red card. The U.S. mostly kept its cool, but CONCACAF is rarely a chilled environment, both literally and metaphorically speaking.

In any case, the U.S. got the result it needed. The U.S. U20s will play in the U20 World Cup for the third time in three cycles under Ramos, and it has a chance at its first official CONCACAF U20 title on Sunday. Quite the week for the U20s.

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