Luke Brennan received his first minutes in the U-20 World Cup on Thursday, coming in as a 74th-minute substitute for Cole Campbell in a scoreless match against France.
Just over 10 minutes later, Brennan’s pass inside the box to Zavier Gozo was met with a perfect header by the Real Salt Lake man as the United States topped France 3-0 behind three late goals.
Here’s the goal that put the U.S. ahead in the 85th minute:
The victory ensured that the U.S. would advance to the World Cup knockout stage with one match to spare. A victory over South Africa on Sunday (here’s how to watch) means they’ll finish atop the group.
After Gozo’s goal, the floodgates opened for the Americans as they added a second in the 88th minute through Brooklyn Raines. Marcos Zambrano finished the scoring in stoppage time.
That makes the fourth straight World Cup where the U.S. has made it to the knockout stage. That said, all four times, they’ve been knocked out in the quarterfinal round, most recently to Uruguay in 2023’s tournament.
Meanwhile, Noah Cobb, Atlanta United’s other player in the tournament (on loan, of course, to the Colorado Rapids), was an unused substitute.
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What a great cross. Well done Luke
he was an instant difference maker in this match. not sure why he’s been riding the bench for so long, but hopefully this gets him more (and meaningful) minutes. i know we’re pretty deep at cb, but the fact that cobb didn’t even get minutes in the 9 goal rout of an opener is puzzling.
it is pretty rare to switch out CBs during a match normally. Normally teams will switch out CBs only if they are injured or absolutely sucking. But it is also possible that Cobb will get the start in the next match since US has advanced to the knock out rounds.
i can only assume you didn’t watch the first match. we were up 3-0 at minute 7. up 7-0 at half. only three field players were unused, of which cobb was one. subbing anyone, including a cb, in match like that would not be unusual at all. of the three unused players, 2 were 2nd half subs vs. france. cobb is the one outlier.
Maybe that’s just the pecking order. Cobb’s on the roster, but maybe as one of the last guys. Hope he gets to play versus South Africa.