QUERETARO, Mexico – The U.S. Under-17 Men’s National Team were eliminated from the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup after falling 4-0 to Germany in the Round of 16 at Estadio Corregidora in Queretaro, Mexico. The U.S. U-17 MNT advanced to the knockout round of the U-17 World Cup for the seventh time in their history, but was unable to overcome a powerful German attack to continue its campaign in Mexico.

"I think today Germany was very clinical in their finishing, always putting the ball on target,” said U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Wilmer Cabrera. “They had three or four opportunities to put the ball in the net and we were just never on target until the last 15 minutes. In these types of games against good teams, you cannot make mistakes.

“They were more clinical and more accurate with their finishing. In the second half I told our players to be more focused and not to make mistakes, but sadly, right away they scored the fourth goal. Then we started to play, take the ball and create options, but it was too late. When you're down 4-0, it's too much. They were the better team. They proved it, and for us it's the end of the World Cup." [More Quotes]

The U.S., who was without captain Marc Pelosi after the midfielder received a red card in the previous match against New Zealand, struggled to slow down the powerful Germans. Despite the wet conditions, the European runner-up was able to tally three goals in the first half as they continued their impressive performance in the tournament.

Germany attacked the U.S. goal from the very beginning, getting off a shot in the first minute, but the team’s first goal didn’t come until the 20th minute on a corner kick. Levant Aycicek played a short corner to Marvin Ducksch, who played it back to him with a wall pass. Aycicek curled that ball into the box for an unmarked Koray Guenter who headed home past U.S. goalkeeper Kendall McIntosh.

The U.S. stayed strong early on and created some good attacking opportunities, including two in the 35th minute. The first came off the foot of Mobi Fehr, who tried his luck from distance and missed just wide of the left post. Later, as Mario Rodriguez chased down a ball into the penalty area, goalkeeper Odisseas Vlachodimos came out to make the save but couldn’t hold onto the ball. Hoping to capitalize on the rebound, Alfred Koroma prepared to shoot as the goalkeeper was trying to recover, but Guenter threw himself at the ball at the last moment and cleared it away.

Germany scored its second goal in the 40th minute when Mitchell Weiser brought down a pass from the right side. Weiser could not control it and let Samed Yesil run onto it while he made the run into the middle. Yesil feed the ball back to Weiser, who slotted it into the back of the net past McIntosh.

Just two minutes later, McIntosh made an impressive save as Yesil brought the ball into the box and took a shot that McIntosh saved with his feet. The ball deflected back to the top of the penalty area, where another German opportunity pinged off the post.

During their next attacking sequence, Ducksch carried the ball up the left side and found Aycicek in the center of the field. Aycicek tried to return the favor to Ducksch, but the ball was beyond his reach allowing Yesil to run onto the loose ball and slam it home.

The second half started much the same as the first, with the Germans attacking on all cylinders. The final goal of the match came in the 49th minute when a cross from the right side was brought down by Cimo Roecker in the penalty area. He calmly found a wide open Ducksch near the six-yard box and the German took his time before picking his spot and placing his low shot past McIntosh to the lower right corner.

The U.S. used all of its subs early in the second half, bringing on Nate Smith for Joseph Amon at halftime, Nicholas Melo for Paul Arriola in the 54th minute and Jack McBean for Mario Rodriguez in the 57th minute. The new legs energized the United States and they created several opportunities in the last 15 minutes, but were unable to put any away.

In the 79th minute, Esteban Rodriguez intercepted a ball and streaked into the box. He rushed onto the ball he had passed up for himself but was just a fraction of a second too late before the defense managed to race back and clear it out.

Just eight minutes later, the U.S. came agonizingly close. The chance came on a cross from Melo, who held onto the ball at the endline before cutting it back into the six-yard box, but Vlachodimos was able to just get to redirect the service. The ball went out to the right side where Smith sent in a shot that was millimeters away from the corner of the goal.

Germany did not back down, however, breaking through once more in the 89th minute when Kaan Ayhan sent a perfect ball down the middle past the defense for Ducksch to run onto. Ducksch tapped it down and rounded McIntosh, who had come out of his box to cut down the angle, but Zachary Carroll came back to tackle it out for a corner kick.

The last U.S. attempt of the game came in the second minute of stoppage time, when Kellyn Acosta sent a cross into the box that McBean managed to get a head on, but Vlachodimos pushed it away from danger to keep the shutout.

-- U.S. U-17 MNT Match Report --
Match: U.S. U-17 Men’s National Team vs. Germany
Date: June 30, 2011
Competition: FIFA U-17 World Cup; Round of 16
Venue: Estadio Corregidora; Queretaro, Mexico
Kickoff: 3 p.m. (4 p.m. ET)
Attendance: 16,191
Weather: 86 degrees; hazy

Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
USA                       0 0 0
GER                       3 1 4
GER – Koray Guenter (Levent Aycicek)     20th minute
GER – Mitchell Weiser (Samed Yesil)         40
GER – Samed Yesil (Levent Aycicek)         43
GER – Marvin Ducksch (Cimo Roecker)    49

Lineups:
USA: 1-Kendall McIntosh; 16-Kellyn Acosta, 6-Mobi Fehr, 2-Zachary Carroll, 4-Joseph Amon (3-Nathan Smith, 46); 8-Esteban Rodriguez, 5-Matthew Dunn, 10-Alejandro Guido, 7-Alfred Koroma; 18-Paul Arriola (13-Nicholas Melo, 54), 9-Mario Rodriguez (19-Jack McBean, 57)
Subs not used: 12-Fernando Piña, 21-Wade Hamilton, 14-Tarik Salkicic, 15-Alessandro Mion, 17-Andrew Souders, 20-Dillon Serna
Subs not available: 11-Marc Pelosi
Head Coach: Wilmer Cabrera

GER: 1-Odisseas Vlachodimos; 2-Mitchell Weiser (7-Mirco Born, 79), 3-Cimo Roecker, 4-Koray Guenter, 5-Nico Perrey, 6-Robin Yalcin, 8-Emre Can (capt.), 9-Samed Yesil (18-Rani Khedira, 69), 10-Levent Aycicek (20-Fabian Schnellhardt, 58), 14-Kaan Ayhan, 17-Marvin Ducksch
Subs not used: 12-Cedric Wilmes, 21-Thomas Daehne, 13-Koray Kacinoglu, 15-Noah Korzowski, 16-Sven Mende, 19-Nils Quaschner
Subs not available: 11-Okan Aydin
Head coach: Steffan Freund

Stats Summary: USA / GER
Shots: 22 / 19
Shots on Goal: 8 / 14
Saves: 10 / 8
Corner Kicks: 9 / 6
Fouls: 9 / 6
Offside: 0 / 3

Misconduct Summary:
None

Officials:
Referee: Omar Ponce (ECU)
Assistant Referee 1: Carlos Herrera (ECU)
Assistant Referee 2: Christian Lescano (ECU)
Fourth Official: Roberto Garcia (MEX)

ussoccer.com Man of the Match: Esteban Rodriguez