Jan. 17, 2005
With a berth to the FIFA World Youth Championship already assured, the U.S. Under-20 National Team, along with University of Notre Dame sophomore Greg Dalby, completed a 3-0 run through its group to claim the CONCACAF Group A title on Sunday evening with a 2-0 victory over Costa Rica. The U.S. team finished 3-0 in the tournament held at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.
The win puts the U.S. atop the group with nine points, marking the first time the U.S. has gone undefeated and finished in sole possession of first place in CONCACAF qualifying. The U.S. finished tied for first on points two other times in 1998 and 2001 with Costa Rica and tie breakers were required to determine the final standings.
The U.S. defeated Trinidad & Tabago 6-1 in the first game of the tournament, then shutout Panama 2-0 in game two.
The U.S. scored just 90 seconds into the match and never looked back en route to a 2-0 victory. Dalby, who started the previous two games of the tournament as a defensive midfielder, came off the bench in the 52nd minute and helped the defensive midfield complete the team’s second-straight shutout in the tournament.
A native of Poway, Calif., Dalby was named the 2002 Gatorade and Parade Magazine High School Player of the Year in 2002 and was a three-time prep All-American. With the Irish over the last two seasons, Dalby has played both central defender (in ’03) and central midfielder (’03-’04) while helping Notre Dame to two of its top defensive seasons in school history.
Dalby earned all-BIG EAST second-team honors in 2004 while starting all 19 matches (seeing 1574 minutes of action). He ended the year with one assist as the Irish compiled a 13-3-3 record, shutting out 11 opponents and nabbing the program’s first BIG EAST Conference regular-season title.
Costa Rica was hoping for a win or a tie in the match, but the U.S. victory pushed Panama into second place in the group, which also receives and invitational to the FIFA World Youth Championship.
Chad Barrett and Danny Szetela scored the two goals for the U.S. team on Sunday.
The other two teams that will represent CONCACAF at the world championship will come from the CONCACAF U-20 Group B, which includes Honduras, Mexico, Canada and Jamaica. The tournament will be played in San Pedro Sula, Honduras from Jan. 26-30.
Dalby will make the trip to the 24-team FIFA World Youth Championshipt (June 10 – July 2) looking to help the U.S. improve on an impressive fifth-place finish at the 2003 World Youth Championship. The tournament will take place at six venues in Holland with games in Doetinchem, Emmen, Enschede, Tilburg and Utrecht.
Along with the U.S., 10 other teams have already booked a place at the world championship. Korea Republic, China PR, Japan and Syria are the Asian qualifiers and Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, Switzerland, Italy and Germany are from Europe.
Complete coverage of the U-20 run to the group title can be found on www.ussoccer.com – which includes comprehensive video of the tournament.